The red canary
by Zasztra
Summary: AU M for later chap. Chris was dead...Claire couldnt believe it. She closed her eyes and wished that it all was just a bad nightmare, but Wesker's sinister chuckle shattered that illusion, it was all real. Wesker X Claire. EDIT: Third chapter fixe.
1. Chapter 1

Disc: I dont own anything.

Hullo! Here is the first part of my 2 shot story, I wanted to write something tad darker. M for second chapter.

* * *

Claire's long, graceful fingers touched the grand piano's keys softly as she played the "Moonlight Sonata" perfectly and without mistakes. How could she make mistakes? She knew the first part like the back of her hand and could play it with her eyes closed. And she hated that song. Once it had been beautiful and touching, but now it was sickening song that she hated more than anything, and he knew it. Wesker knew that she loathed that song almost as much as him.

Claire felt Wesker's presence behind her and she knew that he had stopped working and was just listening to the music she played. Every evening before Claire went to bed he made her play that twisted and damned song just to remind her of her brother…Chris. Claire couldn't help it, tears fell onto her cheeks as she remembered her dead brother. Wesker had killed him in front of her and then he had torn her away from him. She could clearly remember how she had embraced Chris one last time before Wesker had grabbed her and taken her.

Claire didn't pay any attention to her hands anymore, why should she when they moved on their own. She heard how the blond man stood up and walked slowly behind her but Claire didn't turn. She felt a small shiver run down her spine when Wesker placed his hands on her shoulders, pressing her lightly down.

For months a mere touch from the blond tyrant made her flinch and feel disgusted, and it had been almost as if his touch burned her skin for he never wore his leather gloves in her presence. But in time she had grown used to his touch...even though it still made her shiver sometimes. Claire didn't react in anyway when she felt Wesker's hand move up her neck and touch her red hair gently.

Claire had always loved playing piano, but Wesker had taken all the joy away. For years playing the instrument had been a way to express herself and a source of enjoyment, but now her brother's murderer hard turned it into something she hated.

The young Redfield woman felt how her warm tears of anger and sadness fell onto her crimson red dress, but she ignored the feeling and continued playing.

"Moonlight Sonata" a song that represented everything she had become and what life had become to her. She was a doll.

Claire stared her reflection from the black surface of the grand piano and saw Wesker's hands move once again. She felt his rough strong hand against her face and the red-eyed man wiped away her tears. Yet she continued to play, she was done with the song "Why do you cry dear heart?" She heard Wesker's amused voice ask her as he pulled a straw of her bright red hair behind her ear.

"You know the answer you bastard." She hissed and the memories of that fateful evening came to her mind.

It had been a warm summer evening when her life had come crashing down.

* * *

_She felt the warm water run down her shoulders and body as she washed the rose shampoo off her hair. She turned the tap off and grabbed her pink towel, wrapping it tightly around her body and stepped out of the shower gracefully. As she left the bathroom she heard her brother move in the kitchen "Chris, the shower's free now." She said and walked towards her room to dress up. "Took you long enough!" She heard her brother yell from the kitchen. "Oh look who is talking! Do you even know how long it takes for you to finish up when you take a shower? Seriously, why don't you just move into the bathroom? I could have the rest of the house for myself." She teased and dived into her room when she saw Chris' angry face peek from behind the corner. "Why you!" Chris yelled and threw the first thing he saw toward Claire who closed her door just in time before a dirty dish brush hit it.._

_She snorted and went straight to her wardrobe, pulling our light grey-blue jeans,black t-shirt and simple white underwear. As she fought the jeans up her still moist skin the doorbell rang loudly. "Chris can you get that?" She yelled as she jumped up and down to keep her balance while putting on socks. Just when she had managed to dress up...Claire's heart leaped when she heard a terrible crash coming from the living room. _

_"Chris?" She whispered and ran to her desk, and pulled out her handgun before rushing to her room's door. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her mind and focus when she heard sounds of hand-to-hand combat. She put the magazine into her handgun and moved up against the wall and peeked from behind the corner into the living room. Her pulse quickened when she saw a tall dark figure standing in the middle of the living room._

_It was Wesker there was no mistake. His back faced Claire and the blond man had not yet noticed her, for his attention was completely given to her brother who was on his knees, coughing up blood. Only thing Claire could think was how to save Chris, but what could she do? Guns weren't much use against Wesker and wasnt that good in close combat either. _

_How had he managed to track them down? Terra Save and BSAA had helped them hide, and still Wesker had found them."How is your sister Chris? Is she home?" Wesker questioned Chris maliciously and kicked the older Redfield hard into chest. Chris lost all air in his lungs due to the impact and crashed against a bookcase._

_Claire bit her lip hard to keep herself from screaming her brother's name. _

"_She…is not home." Chris hissed loudly enough that Claire could hear him. She stared into her brother's eyes and saw the look in his blue eyes that told her to run. His head was bleeding badly and he probably wouldn't be able to take more blows. Wesker grinned and pushed his sunglasses up a bit "Pity, well I guess I have to find her after I kill you…" He chuckled softly as he circled around Chris like a vulture. _

"_Chirs, Chris, how I have waited for this day to come...finding you and your lovely sister was hard but in the end all the work pays off." He muttered and pulled his heavily modified samurai-edge pistol from its holster and aimed at Chris' head "Tsk, pity, I was really hoping for Claire to witness this." he muttered, clearly annoyed. But he then smiled and looked down at Chris " And don't worry, Ill take good care of her."_

"_What do you want from her! She's done nothing to you Wesker. Leave her alone." Chris spat and Wesker's expression grew cold once again._

"_What do I want from her?" He repeated and pulled off his black sunglasses, glaring at Chris with his hellish eyes. Chris felt only pure hatred when Wesker knelt down next to him and whispered so quietly that Claire couldn't hear it " To be honest Chris, I wanted your sister the moment I saw her back in S.T.A.R.S, back when she was only 17"_

"_Touch her and I…" Chris growled and was about to attack Wesker with his last strength but Wesker grabbed his arm, twisting it so that his bones broke from several points. Chris howled in pain "You what Chris? Come back from beyond the grave? I don't think so."_

_Then he stood up "Your time is up Christopher." Wesker growled and just as he was about to pull the trigger, Claire lunged forward yelling "NO!" _

_She barely saw Wesker's movements; he turned around, fixing his eyes on her handgun and in that instant Wesker moved. Claire's eyes widened in horror when the tall man appeared out of nowhere next to her and before she could do anything, he grabbed her arm, twisting it painfully so that she dropped the handgun. At the same time Wesker's other hand grabbed her neck and forced her violently against the white wall. Claire felt her heart beat go insane as she realized that Wesker had caught her in worst possible situation. _

"_Dear heart…." He whispered huskily against her ear, his hot breath tickling her neck. Even though Claire kept her eyes fixed on Chris who was horrified, she could see the glow of Wesker's hellish eyes from the corner of her view. _

"_I'm so glad that you decided to join us, we have a great deal of things to discuss." He said and cocked his head a little bit, almost curiously. "I'm afraid not!" Claire spat. After all her "adventures" she had learned to carry Swiss army blade in her pocket. She grabbed it with her free hand and unfolded the razor sharp blade and struck Wesker into arm that held her neck. _

_Se managed to deliver the strike but her victory was short lived, for Wesker let go of her only to to slap her in annoyance, just like back in Rockfort. _

_Claire fell onto the floor and tried desperately to get up but her efforts were in vain. Her head hurt like hell and her vision was spinning. She saw and felt how Wesker casually walked past her towards Chris. "You should learn how to behave in my presence Claire." He said and glanced at Claire as if she was but a worm compared to him. "You'll learn eventually." _

_Chris had stood up with his last strength and stared Wesker intensely into eyes. Claire feared when she saw her brother his wounds were already severe and could barely stand. His face was covered in blood and his arm was broken from multiple points. _

"_Wesker, as you can see I'm in no shape to fight or run, so before you kill me I ask only one thing, let Claire live." Chris said softly and watched his sister who was about to get onto her feet. "Chris no…" She whispered in desperation, it couldn't end like this. Wesker let out a sinister chuckled "You always were a fool Chris."_

_The world stopped for Claire when she saw Wesker fire the gun. She screamed "NO! CHRIS!" and lunged towards her brother, managing to reach him just before he fell onto floor with bullet wound in his chest. This wasn't real, this couldn't be real...Not like this. She could barely understand what had happened, but tears were overwhelming her eye sight already._

"_No Chris…." She wailed as tears streamed down her face. Her brother took few last pained and raspy breaths and raised his hand to touch his sister's face "I'm sorry, sis, tell Jill…tell Jill that I love her. Stay strong and live your life…."He gasped and then Claire felt his warm hand fall lifelessly. Chris was dead. "Chris? Chris? CHRIS!" She screamed and tried to shake him to wake him up. "Don't leave me Chris…I don't want to be alone." She cried and hugged her brother in sorrow._

_She looked up in terror when she saw Wesker take few steps closer to her. He was staring at her without any emotion and had holstered his pistol once again. Claire felt rage build up inside her "Why! Why must you take everything away from me? First Steve and now my brother! Why couldn't you leave him alone, haven't you done enough!" She yelled and added in low sad tone "go to hell…. go to hell where you belong." She waited for a deathblow but it didn't come "Get it over with! Kill me, just like you killed Chris." Claire spat and tightened her hold on her brother's body._

_

* * *

_

Wesker smiled and closed his eyes, enjoying every note she played. When he had learned that Claire could play piano he had made her learn this song. He loved it; it resembled his rebirth in to power all those years ago in the mansion. Even though he didn't care much for the music in general, this song had always been his favourite. He had always wanted Claire; from the very first moment he had seen her back in S.T.A.R.S office all those years ago. And now he finally had the red-haired beauty in his possession. And the evening he had finally caught her…. he would never forget it.

_He looked down at her._

_Claire looked so fragile and innocent when she held Chris' cooling body against her. He could barely believe it, he had finally got rid of his nemesis, and all that was left of him was his sister. He had spoken the truth when he had told Chris that he had wanted Claire ever since he had met her back in S.T.A.R.S. Of course he couldn't pursue her back then, there was for god's sake 20 years between them. And even though she was legally adult it would have been HIGHLY inappropriate for him as the leader of S.T.A.R.S department to date his sub ordinate's sister that was barely an adult. He had kept his interest to himself and had dismissed it...until he had seen her again back on Rockfort again. When he had seen that she had grown up and turned into a strong willed and resourceful woman his old interest for her had flared up again. He had though it had been something carnal in him, a shadow or an echo of his former humanity, but it hadn't. To be honest had never understood why Birkin decided to marry that woman, Anette, but when he had met Claire, he had started to understand Birkin somewhat_

"_Go away…" Claire whispered and looked up into his eyes and it amused him. Claire had always been so defying...even back in the old days when Chris and others had no idea of his true nature. He often thought of that one evening when he had introduced himself to her when Chris had not been around. Usually people acknowledged his stature in the S.T.A.R.S or as an genius Umbrella researcher. His presence had always been intimidating, but she had stood her ground and smiled brightly to him, not fearing him one bit._

_He had then realized what he wanted, he wanted Claire to submit to him, to acknowledge him and fear him. She filled the one carnal part of humanity he had left…._

_It annoyed him though, to see her shield her dead brother. It was time for his dear heart to forget her beloved Chris._

"_Get up." He ordered coldly and stepped closer to Claire, towering over her and added, "You are coming with me."_

_Claire glared at him with murderous eyes "Either kill me or go away! Don't defile Chris' body any further!" She spat _

"_You aren't human! You are just disgusting monster in human body!" _

_Wesker decided to listen what she had to say to him before he would drag her away_

_Claire fell silent as she tried to fight back her tears. He waited patiently for Claire to collect herself and watched amused how her clothing got soaked in her brother's blood. He could smell the rose shampoo in her hair, it mixed with the scent of blood, creating a nauseating combination.  
_

"_You think gaining power from suffering of others is worth something, because of you Chris and I have had to suffer…because of you…." Claire growled; her voice was gaining strength every moment and she looked up to face him. She was furious. "Because of you…" She repeated and got up._

_Wesker was more than surprised to see her eyes flaming, she wasn't defeated, far from it, and if he were still a normal human he would have been seriously aiming at her with his pistol. _

"_I wish you hadn't never met you…Chris shouldn't have met you…" The hissed and grabbed her knife and lunged towards Wesker yelling in all her fury "I hated you from the very first moment I saw you!" _

_Wesker's expression turned annoyed as he easily dodged Claire's attack and hit her hard hard. He watched as Claire fell onto ground next to her brother and for a moment he wondered if he had hit her with too much strength, but then she tried to get up again. Her anger had gone, the hit had knocked out all fury and brimstone out of her. She smiled at her brother as if asking for forgiveness "I'm sorry Chris…." She whispered "it looks like…you were the one always to save me…I couldn't protect you even once…I'm useless…" She said and stopped moving._

_Wesker grabbed Claire's arm gently and pulled her up and when he saw that the girl had no strength to support her, he pulled out a syringe from his pocket and injected the substance into Claire. Soon she drifted away and fell unconscious into his arms. Wesker smiled slightly and picked her in bridal style, carrying her out of the apartment, away from her dear brother._

_

* * *

_

It had been almost a year since that day. He hadn't forced Claire to sleep with him even though it had crossed his mind several times.

The first several months had been quite frustrating because of Claire's spirit and defiance. He had not been afraid to use force in controlling her, but he had always been reasonable when he had to do so.

He knew that he was breaking through her defences, slowly perhaps, but eventually they would fail. Guilt was his greatest weapon when he played with Claire's feelings. He had given her everything she had dreamed of when she had been a mere child. Something that she, or Chris could never have afforded to have.

He had bought her grand piano, clothing and jewellery must have cost each a fortune. He had given her luxury that many would have killed for. And the thing that made it all amusing to him was that they meant nothing to her.

As he stood behind Claire he touched gently a gold necklace with diamonds, and he knew that to Claire it was just a shiny bauble. The rich silk dress she wore could as well been a rag. In that sense they were both very similar, the material held no value to them, it was something immaterial that mattered, for him it was power and for her…something else.

Claire felt a surge of relief when she played the last note of the first part and placed her hands slowly into her lap, waiting for Wesker's reaction. "Perfect." He said and clapped his hands few times to applaud her.

Claire stood up and turned around, wiping the remains of her tears away. "Can I go to bed? Or do you want something from me?" She asked and stared Wesker straight into eyes. He never wore his sunglasses when they were together and alone. Claire knew that she was probably the only person on earth in whose company Wesker would not wear his glasses. The blond man walked back to his work desk and opened his black laptop once again "Wouldn't you rather keep me company? It's only a little past eleven." He said and opened few virus data files. Claire closed the piano´s lid quietly. Why was he doing this to her? She had expected to be tortured and eventually killed, but to her confuse, he had been quite gentle with her and only hurt her when she gave reason to. For weeks she had fought him whenever he tried to touch her and he had been quite rough with her, but after a month, she had seen no reason to fight him anymore, it was no use. He always got what he wanted from her, in one way or another.

"Yes, give me a second." She said softly and walked over to the window. She looked out to see the buzzing city full of life. The lights of the buildings made her sad. She so rarely left the luxury apartment she lived in with Wesker. Sometimes he took her out with him and it always made her sad. To see other people with their normal lives. She couldn't enjoy those moments since Wesker was there as a glass wall between her and the world. It felt like she was completely from another world and could not understand the inhabitants of the city. All the sounds of the city were combined into one big buzzing sound that she couldn't understand. She and Wesker didn't belong there.

Sometimes he took her with him to a rich restaurant where she sat quietly while people whispered to each other how lucky woman she was to have such a handsome and rich partner.

How she longed to walk those streets freely. She placed her hand against the cool glass and closed her eyes. She felt Wesker's eyes on her but she ignored the feeling. She imagined herself in the middle of the busy street walking alone, being a part of the city. But now she was isolated from the rest of the world and she wondered if anyone out there thought of her.

One certain memory crept in to her mind like a licker. That one memory, it was discordant from the rest of her memories of Wesker.

When she had learned that her friends no longer searched for her ad that they expected her to be dead, she had fallen to her knees and cried, knowing that everyone she loved had given up on her, no one knew or cared for her existence but Wesker.

That night she had cried first time since he had taken her and she as ashamed of that. When she had realized that she was alone and no one would know that she was still alive, that no one even try to find her, her defences were brought down for the first time...and Wesker had been there to comfort her. He had held her against him as she had cried her heart out. That time, she had let all the pain inside her out, all the sorrow that had build up inside her over the years.

She could still feel the stiff feeling of his leathery shirt against her face and hands as she cried, how wet it had become. Wesker had shielded her with his arms and been with her until she had calmed down. That day still haunted her in the back of her mind.

"I can take you out if you want to, Dear heart." Claire heard Wesker say and she snorted "No need, I wouldn't fit in anyway." The raid haired woman muttered and walked elegantly over to Wesker and sat onto an old antique chair. There was a silver tray on the black rich wooden desk with a with white golden lined porcelain tea set resting on it.

"Tea?" Wesker asked and Claire nodded and he poured her a cup. Claire picked it up and blew the steam away slowly.

The deep silence between them was suddenly cut when Claire asked, "Why do you keep me alive Wesker?"

The blond man looked up from his work and their eyes met. She didn't look angry, more like sad and lost. This wasn't the first time she had asked this question, but Wesker had never given her a satisfying answer. "It can't be because of my brother said to you." She continued and sipped the tea. It hot, and somewhat bitter tasted. "You haven't used me as a bait or tool of bargaining."

"I have no purpose here Wesker! Why are you doing this?" she continued, eyes blazing. He stood up, placing his hands on the desk "I want you Claire to have the front seat when my work pays off and my dreams fulfil." He replied dryly.

The Redfield girl in front of him snorted and frowned "The usual answer eh? Well they aren't my dreams, so they hold no interest for me..." She barked and sipped her tea again. "Why should I care?" she finished coldly.

"Because in the end its my work and dreams that change the world, dear heart." He said to her "What little dreams you had don't really matter." Wesker added and closed the laptop, putting it away as he mocked her. How delightful she looked when her eyes widened first and then they were filled with rage. She stood up and the teacup in her hand flew onto floor, pouring its contents onto dark coloured carpet that had probably cost thousands of dollars.

Wesker couldn't help but smirk as Claire slammed her hands onto the desk, opposing him. "How can you talk about the things you do like they are something wonderful? You've taken everything from me, Chris, Steve, all my friends and _my_ dreams. And I had plenty of wonderful dreams; I wanted to be a wife, mother and something to be proud of! " She yelled and pointed him with her index finger accusingly. "And when you die no one will be sorry for you! You will die alone and pity your for that!" She yelled furiously and clutched her chest softly in agony "You were so obsessed at having your stupid revenge on Chris that killing him wasn't enough, you had to take me as some sick living trophy." She spat.

They were both silent. Claire breathed heavily and trembled a bit, she let her gaze fall and her hair cast a soft shadow over her face as she hung her head low.

_"You are pathetic_" she hissed.

The young woman let out a swift shriek of terror when Wesker suddenly swinged his hand and the work table was sent flying. Claire watched in shock how the table flew a short distance and crashed hard onto the floor with loud bang. With it out of his way her captor started slowly to approach Claire. The young Redfield girl backed away in fear. Wesker's face was as if carved from stone. His expression was stoic making his demonic eyes even more terrifying. Calling Wesker pathetic was like the worst curse word she could come up with.

Claire backed slowly away as Wesker walked steadily yet slowly towards her. She felt fear grip her heart with its icy claws as she stared Wesker into eyes. They were crimson red and glowing slightly, worse than normally, which only meant one thing...that he was angry.

She gasped softly when her back hit the wall and the next thing she knew was that Wesker towered over her and she was trapped between his hands. Wesker, who was a lot taller than Claire lowered his face and whispered against her ear "Fine dear heart, I tell you what I want from you. "

Claire swallowed and pressed herself against the wall when she felt Wesker's left hand move to her arm.

"You…" he said but Claire couldn't believe her ears "What?" She managed to say.

"I want you Claire, from the very first moment I saw you all those years ago."

Claire felt herself start to tremble when the blond tyrant moved his hand up her arm to her neck and caressed it. She couldn't believe this.

"Your spirit, your ideals…. skills…everything, I want to have you, to own you…"He continue ad pressed his mouth against Claire's bare neck, kissing it softly, trailing his lipsalong the thin gold necklace. "Possess you."

Claire shut her eyes tight and wished that this wasn't happening, but it was no use, it was real, too real to escape into her mind.

"I wont love you, ever." Claire hissed and dug her nails into Wesker's arm. The blond man chuckled maliciously and pinned Claire against the wall with his tall muscular body.

"Dear heart, who said anything about love?" He asked and trailed his hand roughly down Claire's body, almost tearing the red dress.

"I know you hate me and that it will never cease, but I promise you…. that in the end you will surrender to me." He said and added, "No matter how long it takes." Wesker finished and leaned in to kiss Claire.

From the very first moment he had seen her? Then…. that meant... All those years ago.

* * *

_Claire sat behind her brother's work desk. Chris´shift should have ended 30 minutes ago but the infamous captain Wesker had sent him on an assignment to the "Archives" as the S.T.A.R.S members mysteriously called the evidence archives. There was only one rule in S.T.A.R.S apartment considering the Archives._

**_ You never speak of it..._**

_Chris' partner, Jill, had told Claire a nasty story about the archive section of the police department. It was said that one officer got lost in there once and he had not been found 2 days. It was probably only a joke made up by someone like Brad, but the story perhaps held some truth in it since according to Barry the archives were a total mess some times. And now Wesker had sent poor Chris to fetch some papers for him._

_Claire didn't notice a growing shadow behind her as she doodled a picture of a big cat onto a clean piece of paper she had found on Chris' messy desk, a rare sight indeed. Honestly she couldn't believe how her brother could work with such a terrible looking desk, all his papers and pens were scattered over the poor table. But the funny thing was, that if someone cleaned his desk, he could not find anything anymore. Her brother called it "organized chaos"._

_She had arrived the station about 45 minutes ago to meet up with her brother, only to see him storming out of captain Wesker's office angrily. It had been actually quite amusing as he had walked up to her and told her that he had to fetch papers from somewhere, and when Claire had asked where from, Chris had lowered his voice and whispered as quietly as possible "the archives."_

_ Barry and Frost, who were 2 last members still left working that evening, had gasped loudly when they had heard Chris say that feared name._

_Now she was left alone in the S.T.A.R.S office, everyone else were gone except for the captain who was working in his private room. She had visited S.T.A.R.S office several times and knew the members of both alpha and bravo team quite well, except for their captain ofcourse who usually just spent all his time working in his private office. He was the worst workaholic she had ever seen. She had never talked to him. It was like Chris had told her._

_"Wesker never talks, he just glares and barks orders."  
_

_ Claire almost jumped up when a rich deep voice asked her "So, you are Chris' sister?"_

_She swung around and got up to see the infamous S.T.A.R.S captain standing behind her with arms crossed over his chest, studying her from behind his black sun glasses. She could tell why people found him scary and threatening. He was tall and muscular, yet he was quite slim. His blond hair was combed back neatly and his sunglasses added a certain barrier between him and others. Yet, he did not scare her, not after all the horror stories Chris had told her._

_"Yes, I'm her." Claire said and stood up straight in front of the captain who was a head taller than she and 20 years older._

_"Claire was it?" He asked and cocked his head a bit in curiosity._

_"Yes, and you must be the famous captain Wesker." Claire said and looked up into Wesker's eyes, well, into his sunglasses more like._

_"Famous? Hardly." Wesker chuckled and Claire smiled, fixing a straw of her rich red hair behind her ear._

_"Chris has told much about you." She said, blushing little bit._

_"Like vise." came a dry reply._

_Claire gave a toothy grin and touched the necklace Chris had given to her as a birthday present couple of years ago, a cheap piece of jewellery with colorful glass, but it was beautiful and held sentimental value._

_"Lovely necklace." Wesker muttered and Claire smiled "Thanks, Chris gave it to me as a birthday present few years ago."  
_

_Wesker suddenly turned around to see Chris stumble in with a loads of papers in his hands. "Chris." Claire asked confused and grinned when she saw her brother struggling with the papers "Took you long enough, I was fearing that I would have to call a search party for you." _

_ "Yeah, yeah, sorry that it took so long." Chris muttered and his expression turned sour when he saw Wesker talking to his sister. "I see you've met my captain." He noted and walked over to them, handing over the papers to Wesker almost aggressively."Can we leave now, captain?" He asked, trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice, he hated it when Wesker delayed him.  
_

_Wesker took the papers uninterested and kept his eyes on Claire all the time. "Thank you Christopher..." He said, not really caring about the younger man. "Claire." He said and nodded before he left for his room, going through the papers quickly._

_"He is scary, eh?" Chris muttered to her sister once Wesker's door slammed shut. _

_"No, I don't think so." Claire said softly and watched how the S.T.A.R.S captain sat down behind his desk and put the papers Chris had fetched aside and picked up a book, starting to read it._

_"Well, maybe a little bit.." Claire giggled.  
_

_

* * *

_

She was terrified and in shock. She could barely understand that Wesker was kissing her roughly.

She didn't know what to do and Claire could feel her legs start to lose their strength, and Wesker noticed this. The blond man supported Claire and put his arms around her. He ended the kiss and moved his head down and kissed Claire's shoulders gently.

She felt ill, this man had killed her brother and hurt her friends in many ways. And now he held her possessively. She closed her eyes trying to escape from this situation but it was no use everything she sensed was Wesker. His scent, the touch of his leather clothing against her skin...his direct touch, his heartbeat. Even the taste in her mouth.

"Only you can fill that one need inside me, Claire. I will take you all the way with me till you will witness the birth of the new world where I will be the god, and you." He said and placed his hand on her stomach "And you will be the queen."

Before Claire could object Wesker stole another kiss from her, this one swift. "What is that you want Claire, tell me. I can give you anything, even that family you so long for."

The young Redfield girl felt mentally and physically ill when she heard Wesker's words. To have a child with him, was there anything more disgusting?

"Chris is dead, your friends think you are dead, there is nothing for you out there Claire." Wesker murmured gently before he took a step back ,releasing her.

Claire was silent for few seconds before she walked up to Wesker and looked up into his eyes. Then her face twisted in rage and she slapped Wesker as hard as she could. Her captor didn't even flinch even though his head turned a bit. The younger Redfield's expression was disgusted "I will never submit to you, and I will never become your whore, Wesker." She growled. "You'll have to force me before I let you touch me in that way!"

Wesker gave her a smug smile " That can be arranged."

"You wouldn't dare." Claire snarled and was about dash in to her room, but Wesker caught her wrist, keeping her from going. "You are mine Claire, remember that. The moment I killed Chris and took you, you belonged to me. Your future, your dreams are the same as mine. "He whispered and leaned in, their faces almost touching "And there is nothing you can do about it."

Claire yanked her hand away and left the livingroom quietly.

Wesker's eyes followed his captive as she left him. Wesker gave a small "hmpf" when he heard the door slam shut. The blond tyrant gazed over to his desk that was flipped around moment ago in his fury and strolled over to it and turned it back. The tea set was shattered on the mat and the hot liquid inside it absorbed.

He had told her his intentions with her, not hiding anything. It was true that he would never expect her to love him no, nor to care, but it really didn't matter to him.

And he didn't care how many years it would take, but he would have her eventually.

And he had all the time in the world once his plans were finished.

...

A week passed and much for Claire's relief, Wesker left her alone, of course she still had to perform Moonlight Sonata every evening, but otherwise Wesker let her be in peace. In fact, they hardly spoke to each other. To Claire it felt strange yet quite welcomed since usually Wesker sought her out whenever she tried to avoid him too much. But now he simply ignored her. For few days it had felt good, but as the week went on, she started to feel lonely since she had no one to talk to, except for Wesker. She hated to admit it, but she actually longed for Wesker's company in a way, as much as she hated that man, he still kept her company.

One evening before Claire was about to play that stupid song to Wesker, she visited her room.

As she closed the door and vent for her wardrobe to pick up fresh clothing she noticed a jewelery box on her table. She didn't have to ques twice to know who it was from. For a moment she thought about forgetting the box and just get her one chore over with and go to bed, but her natural curiosity took over her and she picked up the blue case and opened it. When she saw what the box contained, she felt first furious then ill and for last she felt pure hate and rage. She picked up the necklace the box held inside it and raised it to see if it truly was real. It was just like the one Chris had bought her all those years ago, but this one was made of gold, platinum and white gold. It was filled with diamonds, topazes, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. It must have cost a fortune. For a moment She wished she had Wesker's strength so that she could crush that piece of jewellery into pieces. What kind of game was Wesker playing? She loathed it, she loathed that piece of jewelery that so painfully reminded her of Chris.

Why did he do this to her? Why he had to remind her of Chris' death by his sick twisted gifts?

She left her room trying to do her best to contain her fury inside her. She walked over to the living room just to see Wesker sitting behind his desk as usual, signing some papers. He wore his usual leathery outfit without his coat. He didn't even look up when Claire stormed over to him and slammed the necklace he had given to her onto the desk. "Dear heart " he said calmly and kept working.

"I don't want it." Claire said angrily and crossed her arms over her chest. "If you don't want to wear it, that's your business."came a cold reply.

"Wearing it isn't the point." Claire growled and her eyes were blazing.

Once again she was ignored. And she wouldn't take it anymore.

In moment of her rage Claire swung her hand and all the papers on Wesker's desk flew into air, scattered around them.

"Stop ignoring me!" She yelled and Wesker slowly looked up to her. Molten blue met cold red. Claire picked the necklace up again and shoved it in front of Wesker's face. "Why must you remind me of Chris like this? Why!" She yelled angrily. "What do you gain from it? He is dead! You killed him, you made me watch! Isn't that enough! Don't make me remember what you've done!" Claire continued. Wesker didn't give any kind of reply, he merely stared her, studied her.

Her eyes softened when desperation flooded over her, she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't want to be reminded of Chris this way.

"Why are you doing this?" Claire's voice became weak and felt tears burn her eyes. "You made _me _watch." She repeated and felt the tears starting to roll down her cheek."You made me watch..." she repeated weakly.

Wesker stood up and walked behind Claire, placing his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. He touched her face softly and wiped her tears away. "Why are you so cruel?" Claire asked and didn't resist when Wesker pulled her chin up gently and kissed her. Claire had no idea what was going on, but it felt good. It felt comforting and so she kissed back gently first, but soon their kiss became intense. Wesker pulled her closer to him and she laced her hands onto his chest. It felt good, it took her mind away from all the horrors and pain she had endured. The hands around her were comforting...just like back when he had held her when she had heard that her friends thought her to be dead.

For a moment Claire was just lost in the moment, drinking deeply onto the warmth of Wesker's body and the feeling of his arms around her. ´

_He is scary, eh?_ Claire felt Chris' voice in her mind and she remembered just who she was kissing, and pulled back. She placed her hand on to her lips, what had she done? She had kissed Wesker back willingly.

Claire felt panic grip her heart, what had come over her? Wesker was tempting her, he was manipulating her feelings like he wanted, he was playing with her! She looked up into Wesker's eyes in shock. "Leave me alone." She whispered weakly before she dashed to her room, forgetting all about the Moonlight Sonata she was supposed to play.

Wesker fought the urge to stop her, but he let her go and watched as she dashed to her room. Wesker noted the necklace on the table and picked it up. He had had it made few weeks ago and he had been quite taken by the out come. His memory was flawless and the necklace was exactly like the one Claire had worn the day he had talked to her fist time, this one was just made of real diamonds and jewels, not from glass...He smirked and put it into his pocket, it was his anniversary gift for her.

It had been exactly one year since he had taken her, and he was slowly getting her to submit, this night was a prove of that.

He was getting closer.

...

* * *

Heya! What did you think? I will..."_beept beep_" Argh! Chris fangirl alarm! barricade the doors! "_Jumps behind a couch with a shotgun"_ "_Random fan girl yells_" She killed Chris! kill her!

I wonder if this story has the potential it needs...I liked the first part of this story but Wesker's and Claire's relationship, Im not sure how to make it work. Well Ill figure out something! I blame RE 5's mercenaries on this...playing too much on Wesker kicked me to write this fanfic...Anyways, the M rating is for the next chapter and I will try to write an actual "love" scene between W and C...I fear how that one will turn out...

BTW where the hell is all the Wesker x Claire fanart? I cant seem to find any .

Edit: grammar mistakes! Grammar mistakes!


	2. Chapter 2

Disc: I Dont Own Anything!

Well look at that! Chapter 2. Well, folks, looks like this is going to be 3 shot now...Im hopeless, more ranting in the end. Be gentle, English not mah first language.

warning: A lot of spelling mistakes and errors, Ill try to snipe them out one at the time.

* * *

The stranger in the mirror stared at her, and even though Claire knew that the person staring at her was herself, she couldn't recognize the stranger who wore a rich red black elegantly cut evening dress. The angelic figure raised her delicate hand to touch the golden diamond earring just to make sure that the reflection was hers. Claire could barely breath and expected the person on the other side of the mirror to grin at any time, telling that it was all just an illusion played by her mind. And even though she had grown used to Wesker's presence, she was startled when her captor disturbed the staring contest with her own image.

"You are beautiful Claire." Wesker noted and touched her hair gently. Claire was now sure that the reflection in the mirror was hers when she felt the Wesker's gloved hand touch her braided hair that had been put on a tight topknot, leaving only her bangs to side her face. And with large fresh blooming red rose placed onto her hair to add finishing touch,she indeed was perfect. But no matter how beautifull she was and no matter how elegant hairstyle she had, Claire just didn't like it; it was just not her style. The always wore her ponytail, but Wesker had insisted that she had something more representing this evening. The Redfield girl didn't need to guess twice that they were going out tonight because Wesker wore his gloves and sunglasses and he had changed from his usual leathery outfit to his "business outfit". Claire couldn't help but note the sinister and almost assassin like appearance.

Claire fixed her eyes on Wesker's hands that moved suddenly and frowned when she saw that Wesker had pulled out the necklace that was luxury copy from the one that Chris had given toher her al those years ago. "I want you to wear this Claire." He purred softly and was about to put it around the Redfield's neck; but was stopped by Claire who placed her hand elegantly on his.. "No." The girl said suddenly and got up from the seat, facing Wesker. "I wont wear it, I told you few days ago that I don't want it." Claire said with determination burning in her blue eyes. The angelic girl barely saw Wesker's movements when the tall man grabbed her arm firmly, with almost enough force to leave bruises. Claire winced in pain and hoped that she wouldn't get them, not when they were going out.

"You forget your place." Wesker growled quietly and ran his finger down Claire's face "as amusing as your constant protesting is, this time you'll do as I say." He said and let go of her arm and instead took hold her shoulders, turning her swiftly around and put the necklace on her before Claire had any time to protest. The young woman couldn't help but feel sick when she glared at her reflection.

"Perfect." Wesker whispered and took Claire's hand gently. "I believe we are ready to go dear heart."

Claire gazed down with sad eyes when she felt Wesker's warm gloved hand touch her so gently. The hand that moments ago was hurting her now held her hand gently.

When they passed through the living room Wesker's cell phone rang loudly and they stopped. Claire walked over to the grand piano and leaned lazily against it as Wesker searched his pocket for the phone. The Redfield girl couldn't help but be amused when she noted a small hint of annoyance on Wesker's otherwise stonelike face when he saw just who the caller was and answered it.

"Yes ms. Gionne?" He asked coldly. The nameraised up Claire's curiosity right away. She had met the stunningly beautiful and intelligent woman few times before, and she had always been cold towards her, usually addressing her with just few words or ignoring her completely. Claire had pretty good idea why, since the Tricell researcher was practically glued to Wesker. "We are on our way." Wesker continued, trying to end the conversation as fast as possible.

Claire moved from the piano closer to Wesker, she couldn't help but be interested in what Excella was saying to Wesker.

"Oh, who is accompanying you Albert?" Claire heard a sensual and seductive female voice say from the other end of the line. "_So, Albert is it?_" Claire snickered in her mind. She couldn't help but wonder if Excella knew just how traitorous and deceiving Wesker was. Perhaps she was drawn to Wesker's power or intelligence, but did she know of his true nature? Claire banished those thoughts from her mind, of course she knew, they worked together. Claire had no doubt that she was just as cold and remorseless as Wesker. She had seen few photos of this Uroboros project the two were working on. And the horrors… black oily substance and worms that seemed to devour the victim. Excella had her hands in this just as much as Wesker, the testing on human beings, she knew of it and allowed it without any problems. She was just as bad as Wesker.

"_They would make a cute couple…_" Claire though sarcastically and touched the necklace Wesker had given her. "_Why does he keep me here? Why does he want me? That Excella woman is beautiful and smart, and she respects him…why must he torment me?_" Claire wondered silently as she studied Wesker while he was talking to Excella..

Claire shifted her eyes slightly to look at Wesker when he replied to the woman with annoyance "Well be there soon." He said and closed the line, not caring to talk any longer. Then, slowly he put the cell phone back into his pocked and turned his red eyes to Claire who was standing few meters away.

Their eyes met and neither of them moved. "_Why is he doing this to me?_" Claire wondered sadly and asked, "Where are we going?"

Wesker was first to move by walking over to Claire with few steps and took her arm gently. "A business meeting, I think its time for you to learn all about Uroboros." He smirked and moved his hand down Claire's pale arm.

Uroboros, that rang the alarm bells in Claire's head.

"That's the new virus you've been developing…" She thought out loud and frowned "What are you planning Wesker?" The redfield girl asked with determination and tried to yank her arm away but Wesker tightened his grip, almost enough to leave bruises for everyone to see. But Claire couldn't care less about few bruises right now. "Is uroboros the virus you are going to rule the world with hmmm? You think you can become god with such thing?" Claire growled with hate dripping in her voice as she wriggled against Wesker's firm grip.

Wesker's lips turned into a small annoyed smirk "Uroboro's is perfect virus, it will create the new world from the ruins of the old." Wesker said and nuzzled Claire's neck with his hand.

Claire felt sick. She had seen the pictures of black worms consuming a victim's body and that black oily substance. It was all ugly and horrific, just like Wesker. Maybe it truly did represent Wesker's world, his soul was just as ugly and horrific as the uroboros, it was almost as if _he_ was the essence of the virus.

"Its going to be an one ugly world no arguing there…." Claire hissed and Wesker's grip tightened, clearly warning her from crossing the line.

The Redfield girl had to admit that even though she had seen some of the results in few photos she had managed to spy from Wesker's laptop; she knew almost nothing about it. Wesker had kept her as much in dark as possible.

"What ever you are going to do with that virus, I'm sure someone will stop you." Claire growled. Then she had time to barely yelp when Wesker grabbed her throat and forced her painfully against the wall, chocking her. "And just who did you have in mind Claire? "Wesker purred and pressed his face against her neck, kissing it lightly. "Who could stop me? Surely not Chris, since I killed him." Another kiss. Claire closed her eyes and swallowed hard "Were you thinking of Valentine? " Wesker continued with a sinister chuckle. "She is talented woman, but…. Without her partner, I doubt that she will be much of a threat." Another kiss, Claire flinched when Wesker let go of her throat and took hold of her chin, forcing Claire to meet his demonic eyes "Or perhaps…. you thought of Leon S. Kennedy?" Wesker couldnt help but feel satisfaction when the little colour she had on her face vanished when he mentioned Leon's name.

"Don't you dare touch Leon you bastard!" Claire barked and tried to punch him into face but Wesker dodged the blow easily and pressed Claire against the wall with his body "Lets not resort in violence dear heart, we have time for that later if you want." He chuckled and kissed Claire's red hair.

Claire felt sick. She closed her eyes and bit her lip lightly, trying to escape the situation into her mind, but no matter how hard she tried she was brutally pulled back with every kiss from wesker. "If you touch Leon I will…" Claire started but she was cut off by Wesker "You what Claire? Kill me?" He laughed and petted her cheek "Don't make empty threats Claire, they doesn't suit you. If Mr Kennedy gets in my way I will kill him. Maybe Ill even let you decide how." That did it. Claire growled liked a wild animal and tried to push Wesker off of her, wanting to get as far as possible from him. " Go to hell you freak! Haven't you done enough? You are just one of Umbrella's leftovers, so why cant you just roll over and die!" Claire yelled and tried to hit and kick him, which didn't really work in her evening dress. Wesker frowned and grabbed Claire's wrists to prevent her from hitting him and hurting herself more likely, this was going far enough.

"Enough Claire" He said sharply and restrained Claire by pinning her hands over her head against the white wall.

Claire grinned mockingly "Go ahead! Bruise me so that everyone can see what a abusing bastard you are, what would they think I wonder." She hissed and glared up into Wesker's eyes from beneath her bangs that had fallen over her eyes.

Wesker's expression was stone cold and he lowered his head and brushed his lips against Claire's ear "I can bruise you into places they cant see them." Wesker said with dead cold tone and moved one of his hands from Claire's wrist to her hip. "But, we really should hurry we don't want to have ms Gionne and others waiting for us." He added with smile and pulled back, letting Claire go. The Redfield girl rubbed her wrist a bit and saw Wesker move towards the door while pulling a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. "Come Claire." He smirked and offered his hand. "It all will become clear for you tonight."

Claire hesitated before she slowly started to take steps towards Wesker. He looked like a demon offering her a trip to hell. As she reached him, Wesker gently took her hand "And do try to enjoy the evening."

It felt as if she was on a road to burning hell as they passed the door but what ever Wesker had in store for her or the world, she could take it, no matter what. She had not come this far to break down just yet.

Claire wondered how she was still able to live with herself when they entered the city's most glamorous restaurant with a lot of European aspects in both style and food. She walked belongside Wesker quietly and tried to look as calm as possible, but the nauseating feeling inside her was growing stronger every minute. It was hard to describe, it was as if there were something inside her, eating her up from the inside.

"Ah, Albert, we were waiting for you, you rarely take your time."

Claire blinked surprised when none other than Excela Gionne appeared, stunningly beautiful as always. She wore a long white evening dress that was rather boldly cut with gold belt and medallion. Her lustrous black hair was tied up into big topknot as usual. Claire felt couldn't help but feel a bit plain and simple in the presence of the model like beauty.

"Ms Gionne." Wesker addressed her politely. Excella smiled charmingly and chuckled "The heads of Tricell are take by the Uroboros, but they want to hear the facts from you before investing so big amount of resources into final development." Excella said and only now addressed Claire who was standing behind Wesker absently. "MS Redfield, I see you have decided to come as well. I must say I'm quite surprised, bioengineering isn't your field of work." Exella pointed out sharply with wide smile, clearly thinking her as an inferior being.

Claire kept her expression blank "Cant say I'm any less surprised." She shifted her eyes a bit to Wesker and noted a small frown, a hint for her to keep it docile. Excella smiled and turned around and walked past Wesker, almost touching him "Lets go, Tricell executives are waiting for you to tell them all about uroboros." Excella said and walked past the open double wing door into a big festival hall that was lighted by a huge chandelier looming over the hall. There was a small wide stairway with balustrade in the side made from white marble. Claire hesitated, she didn't want to be here, but she didn't really have any choice. It felt like she didn't belong there among all the glamour and beauty. But, neither did Wesker. They were like wolves dressed as sheep. Wesker turned around and noted Claire's hesitation. She looked almost fearful as he offered his hand once again for her, and slowly Claire raised her own and placed her palm against Wesker's. She felt her heart skip a beat when Wesker's fingers slowly pressed over her hand and he pulled her with him.

Slowly she took steps down the small stairway and let her gaze wander around the hall, people had turned to watch her and Wesker, and it felt terrifying. She didn't belong there.

But little did she know that the people in the hall turned to see just who was the angelic figure was that looked like she could shatter into thousands pieces with each step she took. They wondered who was that fragile delicate thing accompanied by the handsome older man with…. sunglasses…

Claire shifted her eyes from the room back to Wesker. It felt strange, all the sounds and voices blurred into one they lost their meaning. All she could focus on was Wesker. The little pull, the small support he offered to her, the single gesture. It felt reassuring for some reason. Claire walked down the steps and let Wesker lead her towards a table where a bunch of businessmen in black were waiting patiently for them.

Claire looked around, people were staring them and she understood something. Wesker was the only one breaking the dressing etiquette there with his sunglasses. Claire wanted to laugh but she didn't dare, but a small hint of smile formed on her lips. She knew that there was nothing to laugh about the situation, she would soon learn all about that uroroboros virus Wesker kept talking about and it was horrific, but yet, wasn't it those small shards of happiness that in the end mattered. Even among the darkness, sometimes a sunray can break through.

As they approached the round table with 3 business men, plus Excella, one of the men, a middle aged balding man with "AMBITION" practically stamped onto his forehead got up from his seat and addressed Wesker respectably "Mr. Wesker we were waiting for you, I'm Gregor Tyler, CEO of European branch of Tricell." He said and offered his hand for handshake, which Wesker almost lazily answered. Claire cursed slightly in her mind when the man looked at her with wide smile "And you must be Ms Redfield, lovely to meet you." He said and kissed Claire's hand gently and it took all the will force from Claire not to wipe her hand into her dress afterwards. "Pleasure." Claire said with monotone voice, not bothering to act interested and she knew that Wesker didn't bother to care for her behaviour much right now, as long as she was docile and didn't cause a scene.

The Tyler man smiled brightly "Now that you 2 are here, we can get down to business! We as Tricell's..."

* * *

Hours passed as Wesker presented the nearly perfect Uroboros virus, it was only a matter of time and funding when it would be ready and ready to use as B.O.W. Claire was silent as she ate her food that she couldn't probably even pronounce right. She studied the people in the table and was sure that all of the CEOs would end up in the end because everyone that worked Wesker usually did, no matter what. And these men, and Excella, all were highly ambitious, an aspect Wesker could use to twist and manipulate them with. Claire wondered what she was eating, it tasted really good, but she didn't know what it was since she had merely ordered that she would take the same as Wesker. Claire looked around every once in the while, she was pretty sure that Wesker and others had made sure that there was none eavesdropping them from afar. In fact she wouldn't be surprised if that man with codename HUNK was dressed as a butler or something, ready to pull out his Matilda pistol at anyone suspicious.

As the time passed and Wesker told all about Uroboros the more sick Claire felt. The virus was even more horrific than she had though. So this was Uroboros! The pictures had been sickening enough, but the ugliness of the thing in its true calibrate. It was disgusting and horrific. Was Wesker going to change the world with this? How? The thing…. it killed almost anyone it came in contact with. Only one in million could have the genes for good enough for Uroboros. What was he going to do with it? These men, all they could see was B.O.W, they didn't consider what else it could be used for. Claire felt terrified was this the future of the world, was the future determined by something as ugly as this?

She knew that Wesker was paying attention to her; he wanted to see how she would react when she learned all about uroboros and what it was capable of.

Finally it was over, the decision had been made. Tricell would be more than glad to fund the project Uroboros to reach its completion. Wesker would have all the resources and lab areas in Kijuju region in Africa to perfect the virus with help of Excella.

"Now, shall we celebrate a good business deal with champagne?" Tyler asked and before long Claire held a glass of super expensive champagne staring into the void with thousand thought running inside her head at the same time.

"Ms Redfield, you've been awfully quiet all the time, are you sure you are feeling well?"

Claire snapped out of her thoughts when she heard that smug voice that belonged to none other than Excella. "You do seem awfully pale ms. " One of the men pointed out. Claire faked a smile "Oh, sorry I was miles away."

"What do you specializese in Ms Redfield? I understand bioengineering and genetic research isn't your field of work." Tyler asked curiously. Claire put the champagne glass down and fixed a straw of her red hair behind her ear before answering "No, I have to admit that I know very little of biochemistry, though I have been in touch with it in…. well…in the field of operation." Claire said and tried to keep her voice strong and steady. "I'm more orientated in the fields of culture and arts." She added.

"Actually I must say that I'm quite surprised that mr Wesker decided to bring me along at all, since I have nothing to do with the work." Claire said sharply and sipped the champagne little, she didn't want to get intoxicated in Wesker's presence, it just might turn out badly.

She almost jumped when she felt Wesker's gloved hand on her arm, a gentle warning sign only she could understand. "Now now dear heart, you've been such an inspiration to me." Wesker said with soft amused chuckle.

Tyler smile was admiring and bit envying "I can see why, your lady companion is such a perfect delicate flower."

Wesker smirked "Yes, such a perfect flower." He repeated and pulled his hand back. Claire felt a mixture of nausea and loath churn inside her ' how dare he call me inspiration to that…. that horrific thing he has created. If only Chris was here."

But Chris wasn't there nor Leon, Jill or anyone.

Claire held the glass in her hand and didnt notice that her hand was shaking slightly. She felt like she was a passenger on a train heading straight to hell, and he couldnt get off it.

"So, how did you 2 meet? If I may ask, you seem such a…balanced partners." Tyler asked curiously, clearly more interested in Claire.

"_That's it, he is doomed_." Claire snorted in her mind and wondered if he was going to die first for his curious nature for Wesker didn't like people sneaking around trying to pry out all his secrets.

She felt her pulse quicken and the nauseating feeling inside her grew even stronger, making her dizzy when she heard Wesker's answer "We were brought together by and old friend of ours…. the only good thing he ever did." He said with loud almost sinister chuckle.

Claire couldn't take it anymore for it was all too much for her to handle in such a short time. Wesker had threatened Leon's life clearly only few hours ago and then he had shown the true nature of Uroboros and now he had even mocked Chris in most cruel way possible. Her brother had been a wonderful person. Chris had taken care of her when their parents had died; he had always been there for her when she needed help. He had taught her everything she needed d to know about life, about love. How could Wesker say that he had never done anything good else than brought her into his life?

Excella who had been left out for too long leaned in annoyance "Uroboros is perfect yes, we have worked hard for it and it will be success, I have no doubts of that." She said, clearly trying to get the attention back to the Uroboros virus. Back to the work she and Wesker shared.

Claire felt the panic grip her heart; she couldn't take this anymore, not anymore.

"Excuse I have to visit ladies room briefly." She said politely and turned around walking slowly out of the private room into the main hall.

She gathered the looks again and she felt like she was about to shatter any moment and die from agony inside her. Once inside the ladies room Claire leaned heavily against the marble table and tried to calm herself with breathing techniques and eventually she felt herself regain the control of her body. Claire placed her hand onto her forehead, she felt feverish. And when she slowly lifted her gaze up to the mirror she felt her heart race when she didn't see herself but Chris in the mirror. Claire's eyes widened in terror. It was Chris...Chris...Her brother, staring at her. She felt terrified, Chris saw what she had become, a doll to Wesker's will. "Dont look at me!" She whimpered and closed her eyes and when she opened them, the image was gone and only thing that stared back from the mirror was herself, as pale as a ghost. Claire touched her face to make sure it was her and then gave a short bitter laugh, "Now its happened, Ive gone insane." She said, smiling bitterly.

The young woman didn't look at the door when she felt it open and close quietly, but the person who came in caught her attention right away when she talked "I don't understand what he sees in you, you are so plain and simple." Claire turned her head to see Excella standing in front of the door with her arms crossed defensively over her chest. She was eyeing her up and down, clearly trying to find all the flaws she had. When Claire didn't answer she walked up to her and touched her face with her long fingers, "You have pretty face and eyes, I give you that." She said before smiling wickedly and tilted her head a little bit. "Trust me, before long he will grow tired of you and then he will change his attention to real women with skills."

Claire couldn't care less about what she thought of her and Wesker. "What do you want Excella?" She asked simply and turned her attention to the mirror and to the reflection she barely understood to be hers. Excella smiled and leaned against the table with her hip and hand, placing her left hand on her hip. "Nothing really, I'm merely offering my friendship Claire, we don't have to be enemies here." She said smiling.

Claire snorted and turned away from the mirror and fixed her hallow blue eyes on Excella's greyish eyes. "You don't have to play your little games with me Excella, I can clearly see that you are interested in Wesker."

Excella turned serious right way and stood up straight. "I see." She said smiling "Well, I hope you don't mind some competition."

Claire cocked her head amused "You know what? Go ahead, I won't mind at all." She said which caused Excella to raise her brow in curiosity "Hmmm? What are you playing at?" she asked. The red haired woman laughed softly "Cant you see how much I loathe and hate him, I you think you can take his attention away from me, go ahead! If you think you could persuade him to kill me that's even better!" She stated. Excella looked calm, yet Claire knew she was taken back by her words, clearly wondering whether she was playing a game or not "Then why are you with him? Why don't you just leave?" Claire smiled gently in almost forgiving manner; maybe Excella in the end didn't know as much of Wesker as she thought. "Because I don't have a choice in this matter Ms Gionne."

"And as for your friendship" Claire continued and looked directly into Excella's eyes "May I give you a friendly advise?"

"If you must." Gionne replied and waited patiently for the sickly pale woman to speak her mind.

"Stay away from Wesker, for your own good." Claire stated seriously, but then her expression turned from distressed to amused "But I think it's too late for you to get yourself out of this. I trust you know what Wesker is capable of and willing to do to see his work reach completion." She added before walking past the Tricell CEO and whispered to her as she passed "Hell be the death of you and everyone else in that table."

Before she could open the door Excella blocked the way with her arm and leaned closer so that their faces almost touched "Why are you alive? If you say hell be the death of my and everyone in that table, why aren't you dead? I know about you Claire." She said viciously, her delicate and alluring perfume was only faint, yet it caused Claire feel dizzy. "I know all about you. Wesker might find you interesting because you survived Raccoon city incident and Rockfort Island and that you know enough of Umbrella's secrets to be killed, yet you live. Why? Why are you alive?"

Suddenly, all the feeling in her body was gone, the dizziness, the hate and anger. She was hollow. After a shoty moment that seemed to be like an eternity, she spoke.

"I don't know." She whispered softly. Claire's face had lost the little colour it still held and she looked down "I don't know why I'm here…"

Excella pulled her hand back and let Claire pass. Something in the girls eyes had died when she had said those words. Her tone and emotions...had her warning been sincere? Was Wesker really going to be the death of her and Tricell? Excella diminished the thoughts and left the ladies room soon after Claire.

The angelic red haired woman took short insecure yet graceful steps toward the private room with Excella on her heels. Why was she alive, why did Wesker had to torment her? Why did he want her? Chris was dead! Why couldn't she be aswell...She wanted to die, yet she didn't have guts to do it herself. Claire smiled slightly in depressing way ' _I'm pathetic_.'

_Why was she alive?_

_'Why am I alive…'_

The nearby guests were startled and turned their attention to the angelic figure when she suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall.

"Why am I alive?" She whispered quietly and inhaled deeply, feeling weak.

"Somebody…."The angel said, voice barely strong enough to pronounce the words. Only the closest ones to her could make out what she was saying.

Claire didn't even note the fact that her eyes were getting blurry and warm salty tears ran down her cheeks…."Somebody…" She repeated weakly.

"**_Please kill me…_**."

Then all went black.

Many of the people in the restaurant let out a worried and surprised gasp when the beautiful red haired woman slumped onto the floor with loud thud. Several men hurried over to Claire to see if she was ok, but they were pushed aside by a dark haired man with sharp eagle eyes. He dressed in black tuxedo with earpiece speaker and microphone attacked to his head. He looked as if he was a bodyguard. "Boss, problem." He said and knelt next to Claire "Ms Redfield?" He asked roughly and tried her pulse and checked her breathing; she seemed to be ok. Excella stood back and stared Claire unimpressed but with slight curiosity.

A young man with eyeglasses knelt down as well "Is the lady ok? I'm a doctor, she should be taken to the hospital" HUNK looked up with cold expression that made the man go silent.

"That will not be necessary."

The man looked up when Wesker arrived at the scene and looked down at Claire who had fainted from stress and exhaustion with small, amused smile "My companion has merely overstressed herself." He said and shifted his attention to HUNK "Give her a sedative and take her back to the apartment."

The doctor seemed suspicious of the 2 men who clearly seemed dangerous. "Giving her the sedative is the last thing she needs! I'm taking her to hospital." He insisted. Wesker who was about to turn and leave stopped and glanced over to the doctor who had stood up. Wesker leaned in and lowered his sunglasses a bit, revealing his eyes only to him, "That won't be necessary." That did it. The doctor gaped like a fish out of the water and fell silent. Wesker ignored the man and turned back to face Claire and the mercenary. "I still have some unfinished business here. Take care of her." He said coldly and left for the private room with Excella close behind him.

HUNK snorted and picked Claire up and left the restaurant swiftly, ignoring the looks from the people.

"Its all right Claire, you'll be fine." HUNK muttered and left the restaurant with the fainted girl in his arms.

* * *

_She walked through the pitch-black darkness insecurely and looked around, trying to see any kind of object but all she could see was blackness. "Claire…" She heard some one say and turned around to see Chris standing behind her, smiling gently; and beside Chris stood Steve with his boyish grin. Claire wondered if she had ever been so happy in her life and ran straight towards her brother "Chris! I missed you so much." She cried and hugged him. Chris patted his little sister gently. "Shhhh, its ok Claire, lets go home."_

_Claire opened her eyes to see that Chris and Steve had disappeared and looked around to see something in the dark "Chris! Steve!" She yelled and heard her voice echo in the dark. "Up here Claire! Come." She heard a voice from up above and looked up. She held her breath when she saw that the darkness cracked and rays of white sunlight passed into the darkness. And up there were Chris and Steve with white graceful feathery wings, like angels they were. And then she realised that she herself had wings, they were the purest white feather wings she had ever seen, making her into a real angel. "What are you waiting for Claire?" Chris teased her and flew higher "Come, Ill teach you to use gun better, just like old times! Remember when we shoot tin cans back in old days?" Chris asked._

_Before she knew it Claire was hovering towards Chris and Steve with help of her newly found wings. She was so happy, no pain or misery. She was finally reunited with her loved ones. As she flew higher and higher the heavenly light became stronger and stronger and soon it almost blinded her. Chris ,who led her, seemed to disappear into the light but just as she was about to reach it, she heard something move behind her and turned to look back. She screamed when oily black tendril shot up and tied itself around her ankle, keeping her from going any further._

_"No! Let go, let go!" Claire yelled and tried to kick the tendril away with little success. Then out of the darkness another one shot up towards her, this one wrapping tightly around her wrist. Claire felt panic grip her heart it felt like Wesker's touch. "No!" Claire yelled in panic. The tendrils pulled her back into the darkness. And no matter how much she fought back and flapped her wings, she couldn't get away. "Chris, help me! Don't let him take me." She cried out for her brother but he and Steve had already disappeared into the light, leaving her to the edge of darkness and light. "Let go of me you bastard!" Claire shrieked. But then 2 new tendrils appeared out of no where and twisted around her wings and crushed them. Claire screamed ion pain and agony as the shadowy oil tendrils pulled her falling body into the darkness._

_The younger Redfield braced herself for the impact and was sure to die when she closed onto the surface of the blackness that reflected a little bit of the light. But to her surprise, she was pulled through the ground. It felt as if she had been plunged underneath water. The murky water filled her lungs as she tried to scream for help and yet she did not drown. Claire looked up to see the light shining above the surface; she indeed was underneath water. She tried to kick and swim, up but no matter how much she fought, she was pulled deeper ad deeper. The deeper she got the more tendrils there were and they snaked around her body, making sure that she couldn't get away. Tey even blocked the glimps of sun taht made it through the surface. Claire turned her head slightly when she heard a low dark chuckle behind her. She didn't have to guess twice who it was. "Wesker…" she whimpered weakly and her eyes widened in terror when she saw Wesker standing there in the dark in his business outfit. His hellish red eyes made him look like the devil himself, perhaps he was, and this murky depth of abyss was his domain._

_Behind him spread out large wings made of black oil and shadows. It was his wings that had pulled her back into this abyss. Wesker yanked her closer and touched her broken wings gently with mocking smirk playing on his lips "Did you really think that Id let you go Claire? " he asked and moved his hands, and caressed her shoulder. "You'll never get out of this cage I've created for you, my little red canary bird." He said and pulled her into embrace_.

* * *

Claire shot up in her bed with scream and breathed hard. When she realized that it had been only a dream she relaxed a little bit, only to yelp again in terror when she noticed someone sitting on the bed beside her, and it wasn't Wesker. Claire's eyes widened when a rough hand was clapped over her mouth " Keep it down for god's sake woman." And then Claire realized that the person sitting next to her was the man with codename HUNK. Claire relaxed again and the man removed his hand and put the weapons magazine he had been reading aside. Claire caught a glimpse of the cover, it listed a topics of the month, first being **"Your TMP and you."**

"You must have had a hell of a nightmare, you kept thrashing in your sleep and whimpering "no no no" all the time." He said smugly. Claire shot an angry glare at HUNK "Considering what Wesker has done to you though it is not really surprising." He continued. Claire noted a small needle mark on her arm and touched it, the skin around it was sensitive and it hurt. "What happened? I can't remember anything else but that I was in the ladies room with Excella…" Claire muttered and looked down ashamed.

HUNK's expression was blank "You fainted because of stress and exhaustion." Claire blinked, she didn't remember "I see…. well…what happened then?"

Hunk snorted "I gave you a sedative and brought you here, it was only about 4 hours ago. It's the early hours of morning."

Claire shifted her legs over the edge of the bed slowly and tried to stand up but the sedative was still in her system and a wave of dizziness hit her, and HUNK had to catch her so that she didn't fall on to the floor. "Take it easy." The mercenary said coldly and helped her to sit down on to the edge of the king-sized bed.

Claire held her head with her right hand to make the dizziness go away and turned her head a little bit when she heard someone enter the room. She didn't feel much of anything when she saw Wesker standing in the doorway. He hand changed to his usual leathery outfit. "How are you Claire? You had me quite worried back there." He asked with teasing voice followed by a low chuckle. He then turned his attention to HUNK "Your work is done, leave." He said coldly.

Claire looked up to HUNK who nodded and quietly left for the door, passing Wesker without saying anything.

Claire held her breath; with each step Wesker took towards her she remembered the evening. How she had passed out after that conversation with Excella. How Wesker had told her everything about Uroboros. Through the dizziness she heard how Wesker's steps got closer and closer. "How are you feeling Dear heart? I hope the evening wasn't too tiring for you." He asked softly and sat down on to the bed next to her, pulling out a vial or orange liquid. "This will help, it should counter the effects of the sedative in your body." He said and offered the vial to his captive, but Claire frowned and slapped his hand, causing the vial to fly out of his hand and shatter onto the wooden floor.

"I don't want anymore of your drugs." She spat, to which Wesker merely raised his brow amused "Fine, have it your way then."

Claire expected her body to go tense when she felt Wesker's hand travel up to touch her hair, but instead it felt almost...calming. She still had her elegant hairstyle, though the constant thrashing in her sleep had messed it up somewhat. Her lips were dry and she licked them nervously before she spoke. "Uroboros, are you really going to infect the whole world with it?"

Wesker chuckled and his hand travelled up. Claire sat completely still as Wesker pulled the hair pin holding her hair up out, letting her hair fall down freely. "Yes, and what magnificent world it will be for us." He said and ran his hand through Claire's hair gently. Claire frowned slightly and she couldn't help but feel ill when Wesker spoke of world's end while caressing her.'_ So he is serious about destroying the whole world_.'

"Why?" She barked and looked up into Wesker's eyes "Why must you create something that can kill the whole world? Only one in million will have the DNA to match with Uroboros! How can you sentence 6 billion people to death just like that!" She yelled suddenly, ignoring the ill feeling churning in her body. Claire then let out a small pained yelp when Wesker grabbed a handful of her hair rather roughly and yanked her head back a little bit. "Because humanity's end is inevitable, this world is over populated, wars are fought over meaningless things." The tyrant growled.

Wesker then stopped for a moment, there it was, fear. Claire was afraid of him, or what he could and was about to do to the world. It was almost intoxicating to look into depth of those blue eyes and see the fear shining in them. Wesker smiled and lowered his face over Claire's "Its all for greater good my dear. From the agony of 6 billion people a new balanced world can be born." He said and brushed his lips lightly over Claire's.

Claire closed her eyes when Wesker kissed her, she didn't fight or struggle for it did her no good, instead she was completely still and soon Wesker pulled back but kept his grip still of her hair. Claire's fear had vanished, she felt so tired and yet she was not sure whether it was the sedative or not. Perhaps she was just finally too tired of fighting. "You are wrong Wesker." She said sadly and looked up into his eyes that held no emotion "This world is full of beauty and hope, perhaps there are bad things, **terrible things**, but people still find happiness in it, and that makes it wonderfull." She said sadly, and frowned "If you actually think that Uroboros can create a new world for you to rule, you are mistaken, because that thing cant bring anything beautiful into this world, nor create a new one. And if you think that I will allow you to do that, you are sadly mistaken. This world might flawed but Killing everyone on it wont fix the problem."

She didn't even flinch when she saw rage creep into her captor's eyes, she didn't fear the tightening grip in her hair, not the fact that a single punch from him could cause her body to become a blood geyser.

There was no anger in her voice, no rage just pure calm confidence "Don't even think that I will let you do that, the moment you loosen the leash on me, I will make sure you will not succeed on this."

Wesker's grin was wide enough to reveal his perfect white teeth and he nipped Claire's ear playfully before whispering softly "Well then Claire, I will tighten that leash." The Redfield girl's heart started to race when Wesker continued "I actually have few ways in mind." He said and moved his hand to touch Claire's stomach gently, but before he could touch her, Claire shot up from the bed, but she was still weak and as she tried to move, she fell. But Wesker caught her and pulled up against him "My, you are still weak from the sedative, you should sleep it off if you don't want my help." He said and placed his captive onto the bed gently. "I will tighten the leash every time you try something foolish my dear, to the point you have to beg for me to loosen it enough for you to breath, this I promise to you dear heart." Wesker whispered gently. Claire felt sleep take over her body and she closed her eyes. Before she drifted away she heard Wesker chuckle and trail his hand down her face. "Fight as much as you like dear heart, battle as hard as you can, but it wont change anything, it will only make my victory much sweeter."

Wesker petted Claire's head a while longer and admired her slim yet strong body. Uroboros was nearing its completion and there was nothing anyone could do, even if the newly founded BSAA sent some agent after him it wouldn't change anything. He finally had everything he needed and wanted. He had the resources he needed to plan spreading it across the globe, he had the power to change the world. And most of all, he had had his revenge on Chris for spoiling and delaying his plans. He then smiled and looked down at Claire, and of course he had her, the only person he had ever truly wanted. His queen: the person that would share his world. He pondered the business meeting earlier that night with satisfaction. She sad been shocked when they had presented the Uroboros project with . The terror in her eyes as she saw what the virus did to an unworthy test subject, how it consumed it. And apparently: it had been too much for her. No matter how much fortitude she had, Claire was going to break down soon. "When you break down, I will be there to pick up the pieces, and repair the damages." He chuckled. "If you could only forget your brother it would be so much easier for you…." Wesker continued, talking more to him than to her, after all she couldn't hear him.

He turned his head slightly to see her sleeping form and couldn't help but smirk, it had not been first time she had fainted in his present, and without much thought, his mind travelled back the good old days in STARS.

* * *

_Wesker cursed out loudly as he walked out of the RPD headquarters. It was 10.00 pm and it was raining cats and dogs, plus it was damn cold. He had over worked again without even noticing and he was quite angry about it since he still had to finish up an Umbrella report for tomorrow, something he would have to do home. Home, how strange it sounded to him for he didn't think of the flat he lived in as home, more like base of operation. As the blond man opened an umbrella to shield himself from the cold rain, he noticed something red sitting on a wooden bench next to a lamppost, something red and wet. Usually he wouldn't have cared much for such thing, but he stopped when he realized that it was Chris' little sister, it was Claire. The girl apparently had not noticed him since she sat there staring to he ground apathetically, clearly not aware of her surroundings. "Ms Redfield?" He asked softly as he could, which was hard and the girl slowly turned her head to look up to him._  
_He felt something stir inside him when he saw those crystal blue eyes gaze up at him. She had been crying, he could tell that. "…. Captain Wesker?" She asked unsure and fell silent again, looking down to the ground "Have you seen Chris?"._

_Wesker clearly remembered them leaving earlier that evening together from the police department, apparently Claire had come to Racoon city for the weekend and had met up with her brother at the RPD. "I remember you leaving with him together earlier this day. "_

_Claire let out a small sob "We had a fight over something…I cant even remember anymore what it was about."_

_She then wiped away her tears that were now mixed with the rainwater. "I stormed off angrily, and got lost, I don't know this city too well."_

_Wesker glared down at her when the soaked girl giggled sadly and looked up to him again "Then I remembered that I didn't have my cell phone or wallet with me, I had left them into Chris' care for a moment and forgot to take them back, and now I don't know what to do." She continued weakly and slowly stood up. Wesker noted that her clothes were completely wet._

_"I was sure Chris would have come here…. but no…guess I just walk home."_

_Wesker didn't know what came over him that caused him to make the offer "Ill drive you home, I'm not sure where Chris lives, but you can guide me." He said. The young girl stared him with hazy eyes, clearly wondering if he was serious._

_"O…. ok…If its no trouble." She muttered and took few shaky steps. Wesker noticed that something was wrong. "Is everything alright Ms Redfield?" he asked._

_"Yes…I'm fine, I just…I just…." Claire tried but then she suddenly collapsed. Wesker moved quickly enough to catch her before she hit the ground. He tried her forehead; it was burning. There was no mistake, Claire had a fever and really bad one. The younger Redfield had probably been walking the streets in the rain for hours, so it was no wonder she had caught fever._

_Wesker muttered something and picked her up and carried over to his car, the report would have to wait for tomorrow, he had the sick ms Redfield to tend to._

_Before long Wesker arrived at his apartment and unlocked the door while holding Claire's unconcious body against him. The poor girl was soaked and burning hot. He placed Claire onto the sofa and tried her forehead gently, trying to determine how bad it was. Wesker pulled his sunglasses off, revealing his blue grey eyes. He sighed and walked over to the telephone, picking up the receiver. He dialled Chris' cell phone's number and waited. He sat on to the sofa's arm and studied Claire's sleeping form, she was so beautiful and fragile looking._

_"**tuuut….tuuut**." Wesker waited patiently, Chris was most likely too busy to answer. But then he picked up the call "Yeah? Who is it, I'm really busy right now so…"_

_"Chris…. Looking for your sister?" Wesker asked coldly and Chris went silent._

_His gaze travelled up and down Claire's body. Her hair was dark and soaked but was still on a high ponytail. "Wesker? What...Have you seen her I've…" He heard Chris' panicking voice start but Wesker cut in "She's fine, I picked her up."_

_"Picked up? As in?" Chris asked clearly confused._

_Wekser tapped the sofa's back in annoyance, how thick could Chris' brain be. "I took her to my apartment, she was waiting for you at the RPD."_

_"In your…home?" Chris asked clearly in disbelief. Wesker raised his brow amused when he heard Jill's voice ask, "Chris, is Claire all right?" To which Chris answered "Yeh, I think captain took her to his apartment."_

_Wesker snorted when after a moment of silence Jill clearly asked "What?" in disbelief.  
_

_"I uh…. could I talk to Claire?" Chris' asked suddenly._

_"She's out cold…." Wesker replied coldly, his eyes travelling from Claire's hair to her hip and legs. "What? She left!"_

_Wesker wanted to groan out loud. "As in unconscious Chris…"_

_"Oh I see…. Where do you live, Ill come pick her up."_

_Wesker studied Claire for a while. He couldn't help but be interested in her. He wanted to learn more about her._  
_"Better not, she is sleeping, Ill drop her by the RPD tomorrow, 9 am."_

_"I…." Chris started but fell then silent, clearly considering the alternatives "Fine…. and Wesker…When she wakes up, could you tell her that I'm sorry?"_

_"Do it yourself, you are her big brother." Wesker snarled and hung up._

_He glanced at Claire who was mumbling something in her sleep, "sorry…sorry…" She was asking forgiveness from someone, probably Chris._

_Wesker stood up and picked up a blanket. Before covering Claire with it he gently pulled her coat, throwing it on to the armchair's back._

_For a moment Wesker just studied the young girl sleeping on his black leather couch, she had barely any resemblance to her brother, except for the facial structure perhaps, but he had no doubt about the fact that she was probably just as headstrong as her brother._

_Then out of blue the S.T.A.R.S captain remembered the report he was supposed to give just in few days. He cursed quietly and sat down on to the armchair and picked up a small flap board and pen. It was late, but he had to finish it up._

_He paid a single look to Claire and gave a short chuckle "Remind me to sign Chris to night shift tomorrow." He muttered but got no answer, which was expected._

_Wesker then turned his attention back to the report and started to fill it quietly, tomorrow was a new day and would bring the mansion test one day closer._

* * *

For a moment the blonde tyrant was snapped from his memories when Claire shifted in her sleep and mumbled Chris' name. Wesker gently caressed his captive's head; her expression was serene and peaceful. Just like back then.

Wesker smiled when he remembered the following morning. Claire had panicked at first when she was in strange apartment but when she had noticed him sitting in the armchair reading, she had calmed right away. It was probably the only time he had gained that reaction from her. The calmness when she saw him….

He had explained the situation to her quickly and bluntly and she had been embarrassed of the whole situation she had gotten herself into. After a quick and simple breakfast he had taken her to the RPD where Chris had been waiting nervously.

* * *

_As he parked his black car on to his usual spot in the RPD parking lot Wesker noticed Chris standing in front of the RPD building. It was Chris' day off, so he wore jeans and jacket. Claire who was sitting next to him noticed her brother standing next to the entrance of the RPD, but before she stepped out of the car she turned to him "I…I haven't thanked you yet I guess, I really hope that I wasn't much of a trouble to youyesteday ." She said and Wesker could see blush rising on to her cheeks._

_"No, you weren't much of a trouble miss Redfield." Wesker said bluntly and checked his watch, it was already past eight, and he was supposed to be at Birkin's laboratory soon to give the report. "Thank you, I'm so glad that Chris has such a great captain." Claire said with bright smiled. Wesker felt something deep inside him stir, something that he did not recognize, something entirely new to him._

_Claire opened the car door and got up, but before she closed the door she smiled "Remind me to repay your hospitality ok? Maybe I could offer a cup of coffee some afternoon next time I'm in the town?"_

_ Wesker fixed his sunglasses up slightly to make sure his eyes weren't shown for it would be one of the few times he was actually surprised. "Ill think about it." He said and checked his watch again "You better get back to your brother, he seems worried." Wesker said and nodded towards Chris who was standing in the morning mist worried with a gift that was wrapped in red gift paper in his hands. "Yeah, thanks once more captain Wesker."_

_Wesker didn't know what went over him when he smirked slightly, replying dryly "Dear heart, Wesker will be enough, you make my name sound like a super hero name." Had he actually made a joke?_

_He couldn't help but feel amused when Claire blushed and tried to get apology out of her mouth. "Sorry…Ah well, look at the time, got to run …cap….Wesker." She yelped and turned around, hurrying over to her brother._

_Wesker stared after her for a moment before switching the gear and driving out of the RPD's yard. "Maybe he should accept the offer for afternoon coffee…"_

Wesker blinked when he felt something warm and wet touch his hand that petted Claire's cheek. He turned his head slightly to see that she was crying in her sleep. His expression was blank and emotionless "You'll feel better tomorrow, sleep now Claire, tomorrow is another day for us and one step closer to our future." Then he stood up and walked over to the door, and left Claire to sleep and dream in peace.

* * *

...

Claire had no idea how many days it had passed since that evening. 2 weeks? 3? To put frankly she just didn't care anymore. Her days passed by one after another. She barely talked with Wesker and tried to keep to herself as much as possible. Just seeing the man reminded her of the fate of the world if no one stopped him. Yet she couldn't do anything to stop him. She knew that he had more than one pair of eyes watching her. What she found most curios was that the Mr Tylor she had met at the dinner had visited her few times, clearly wishing only to talk to her under the made up lie about wishing to see Wesker when he clearly and knowingly wasn't with her. She hadn't really been that surprised when the European man had asked all kinds of questions about Wesker, to which she had answered rather bluntly and in dodging way. The man was most interested in Wesker's virus that he had learned about.

Claire had felt sorry for the man even when she told him honestly that she didn't know much about it and that he should ask Excella about it, for she must know more about viruses and all that crap. She had felt sorry for the man because he was going to die soon.

It was Thursday evening. The sun had fallen behind the horizon a good time ago and the young Redfield woman sat comfortably in a large wine red armchair reading a book she had picked up earlier from the library, accompanied by HUNK in civil clothing, most curious sight. For once she wore comfortable pair of blue grey jeans and brown long sleeved t-shirt with black sleeveless jacket. Earlier that day when she visited library with HUNK she had used the opportunity to buy clothes she wanted. Usually it was Wesker who picked something for her to wear. As she thought of her shopping spree earlier she couldn't help but feel slightly devious satisfaction as the image of HUNK carrying all her shopping found it's way into her mind. She had bought shoes, jeans, shirts, anything that was _her_. Claire turned the page and kept reading, but was interrupted when suddenly the door flew open and Wesker walked in. Claire bit her tongue when she noted that there was semi dry blood on the man's cheek, trailing all the way down his neck, his hair was messier than usually.

He closed the door and opened his coat, tossing it onto chair's back. Claire felt nauseated when she saw the blood sprays on his clothing.

Wesker tore his sunglasses away, almost crushing them. Then he noted her sitting on the armchair a as he turned his attention to her. Claire wondered if she had gone mad when she didn't feel fear or discomfort when she saw Wesker's eyes that were glowing red; usually they were orange and calm. The "flashiness" as she had dubbed it was usually triggered when he was angry or annoyed.

Claire closed the book and placed it onto the table. Wesker stood still as Claire stood up and strolled over to him slowly, stopping infront of him. "You killed him, didn't you?" She asked calmly. No answer. Her expression was calm, collected and demanding. "Did you? " She pressed on. Wesker's eyes glowed even more intensely. "Yes, I killed him." He finally replied.

Claire managed a small bitter smile "Not really surprising, its all you can do, the only way you can solve anything."

She then strolled to kitchen and picked up a piece of cloth and moistened it underneath the running water for a moment before closing the tap and squeezing the extra water off it. She then returned back to the living room where Wesker had taken off his gloves. Claire walked up to him "Did he ask too many questions?" Claire pressed on as she reached slowly up with the cloth piece in her hand, to clean Wesker's face off the blood. She winced when he grabbed her wrist, preventing her from touching him.

His eyes kept glowing dangerously. "Its ok, no need to answer that, I think I know already the answer." She said and smiled unhappily. "Its good to be reminded of what you are." She continued and after a moment of silence she felt Wesker's hand let her wrist go and she pressed the moist cloth against his cheek and clean the blood off.

"And what is that I am?" Wesker asked while intensely staring in to her eyes.

Claire's smiled vanished and she whispered quietly "A monster that can only solve things with violence. All your answer's to your problems is killing those who are in your way."

Claire worked with patience; it didn't feel that bad to touch him. It was then she realized that he looked older; from his physical form one would be surprised to learn that he was almost 50 years old, but his eyes and face held the signs of age, as small as they were.

"Do you regret anything?" Claire asked after a moment of silence. Wesker raised his brows in question "What do you mean exactly dear heart?"

Claire finished up with his work and pulled away from him, the glow of Wesker's eyes was almost completely gone. "Do you regret anything at all? The people whose life you've taken? Or the decision to betray S.T.A.R.S and use them as live testing experiments?" She asked.

_Are you even capable of regret_? Claire couldnt help but wonder.

Wesker pondered her question for a good time, measuring it from all points "What are you after?" He finally answered the question by another.

Claire coudlnt help the seeping feeling of anger growing inside her. It was calm and collected anger, very much like the anger Wesker expressed. "This has been going on for years, the cat and mouse play between you and the people who oppose you, death and more death follow you and me, I know it by now." Claire said and she smelled the moist blood she had washed off Wesker's face. It made her ill. "We aren't getting any younger you know. This has been going on for almost a decade, aren't you afraid that you will be defeated on the brink of your success? That someone will take away your victory after the years of work?"

Claire felt uneasy when she saw a smirk form on her captor's lips. "Claire, you should know by now, that nothing could stop me." Claire tried to pull back but it was no use when Wesker possessed speed that enabled dodging bullets. He grasped her chin gently, keeping her still while leaning slightly down. "When the stakes are high, the moment you grasp the victory is most amazing, when all the years of work pays off."

Claire heard Wesker whisper one more thing before he crashed his lips on hers "I've eliminate the only risks in this game Claire, and that risk was that wretch of brother of yours."

Claire felt strange, Wesker's touch didn't feel so bad anymore. When he kissed her it didn't feel wrong, evil, or disgusting anymore. She had become used to him. Claire closed her eyes and tightened her hold of the bloody rag. The man had just killed someone moments ago, but she couldn't deny it; _it felt good. _She kissed him back gently and unsure while trying to ignore the nauseating scent of blood.

After what seemed like and eternity Wesker pulled back and let go of her Claire felt a wave of ashame crash over her and she looked away. "There is one regret I do have." Wesker finally said softly, almost…. lovingly, no it couldn't be, she must have misheard.

"W..what ?" Claire asked unsure and she wanted to close her eyes as she felt Wesker's thumb caress gently the area underneath her eye while still grasping her chin.

"**_I regret that I didn't take you with me a long time ago._**"

Claire fell silent. Wesker's eyes were now perfectly normal and he studied her briefly before walking past her. Claire turned around as Wesker passed her but the blonde tyrant didn't seem to have anything to say to her.

She wondered whether she should as the question, since it probably made him only angry.

"Whose blood was it?"

Wesker stopped but didn't turn around. "Mine, the man had some nasty body guards." With said that he left.

Claire moved only when she heard the door close and sighed deeply before walking back to the kitchen and discarding the rag in to trash can and washed her hands. After done that she returned to the armchair and sat down, picking up the book.

"Am I his only regret?" She pondered the question out loud. It sounded so amusing, so ridiculous. He would have beaten her to death back on Rockfort Island if he had not gained that call. Yet, in past Wesker had often shown kindness to her, back in S.T.A.R.S time, had it been all just acting? Probably. But even so he still respected her and chose to treat her well. Well besides the occasional violence and drugging.

The smell of blood lingered in her hands as she opened the book. She stared her hand for a moment, how many shots had she fired with guns? How many monsters had she killed? Yet, they had not been people, not real living and feeling people. And yet when Wesker had walked in, covered in fresh blood, she had not really felt much of anything, it was like it was perfectly normal.

All the violence and death; she had grown used to it a long time ago. And the man behind all the suffering was Wesker and yet she had allowed him to kiss her without any resistance, and had even kissed him back, even if it had been a brief moment. She truly had betrayed all those close to her.

Claire closed her eyes.

...

...

"I'm disgusting... "

...

* * *

"Still hiding from the angry Chris fangirls" Pssst, I'm running out of canned food and shotgun ammo, so someone please distract them while I run to mall free of zombies to gather more food.

Yes, I admit it I'm hopeless case here, I cant end my stories. Im not completely happy with this chapter, mainly because of the ending and the restaurant part. I know next to nothing about restaurants so it was really hard for me to write it in English. I know that the feeling in this chapter was a lot different from the first one, and was not as tightly knit in structure.

Anyways, the NEXT chapter _will_ be the last one, I promise you that. And I promise you a shower scene with Wesker! I know that this chapter didn't really have anything drastic, and I tried to concentrate on Wesker's motives...Gah, don't mind me I'm just hopeless, my own story confuses me to the brink of madness.

As usual, there are a lot of grammar mistakes and cheesy scenes. And btw I cant come up with good names, thats why I never make so few minor oc characters such as "Gregor Tyler" I just...hate naming people! While I Was writing this I watched some soapopera and picked up some names from it .

Edit: Typos typos typos...I know there are a lot of them! SInce this is a lot longer chapter what Im used to write, I make a lot more mistakes and stuff...


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Dont own.

So, the third chapter, enjoy, I know its long...took me an eternity to write it.

EDIT: Different ending and lot of typos fixed. Well, some.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Wesker ran his hand through his blonde hair as the cold water washed over his strong muscular body, erasing the sticky blood of the now dead businessman. The cool water cleared his head from all unnecessary thoughts, making room for more important things. The dawn of uroboros was approaching fast and soon they would be on their way to the African base to continue the research with the key element, stairway to the sun- flower, which had held the virus that had developed the first of many viruses, the t-virus. Working in the area close to the important resource was vital for perfecting the deadly virus that would bring the new and better world.

Wesker closed his eyes and focused onto the feeling of the cold-water drops hitting his face.

Her touch still lingered on his face and even the water couldn't wash it off.

Claire's soft hand on his face, touching him gently, almost in caressing way as she washed off the blood on his face.

Slowly, a small grin formed on his thin lips when he thought of their earlier conversation. The look on Claire's face when he had told her that his only regret was that he had not taken her with him a long time ago.

And he had not lied, not on this matter for least.

Wesker's mind travelled back to the time they met again in the Antarctica with Chris. A small part of him regretted the fact that he had not taken the chance to take Claire with him back then, but of course it had not been the best situation. He had been more focused on getting his revenge on Chris.

And besides, his desire for her had only back then emerged from being dormant. His feelings…. no obsession for Claire was like a virus. He had been contacted with it all those years ago, when he had met her, and then it had gone dormant…and after many years, it had emerged stronger than ever.

It had, so to speak, mutated.

He opened his eyes slowly and closed off the water. Wesker grabbed a white towel from the rack and tied it around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. He still had lot of work to do…

* * *

Claire strolled back and forth in the safety of her room. She couldn't sleep. It was 4 am in the morning and she had woken up an hour ago, again because of a terrible nightmare, this time the dream involving Chris leaving her to the mercy of horde of zombies.

She winced when she remembered one specific part of the dream.

_A horde of hungry zombies was after them. Running from them was easy, at least it should have been. She panted and tried to force her legs to move, to run even a little bit longer to get away from the horde. But no matter how hard or fast she ran, the horde seemed to be always only few steps behind her. Chris was running without much effort in front of her, almost as if the act didn't even wear him down. Her lungs burned and sweat was running down her face. She couldn't run for much longer. _

_Claire let out a small scream when she tripped and fell painfully to the ground. Chris stopped and turned around, with annoyed look. "What now? You fell?" He asked with mocking tone. Claire glanced back and saw that the zombies were close. She tried to get up but couldn't, as if the gravity wouldn't let her. "Chris help!" She yelled but her brother glared at her angrily "Why? I've done enough for you." He replied coldly and turned his back at her. "You are a burden." _

_Her eyes widened in horror when Chris started to walk away slowly, leaving her behind. "Chris no! Don't!" She screamed but the zombies had reached her. Claire managed to stumble up and take few steps forwards. _

_In her moments of panic she managed to see another figure ahead of her, standing still, watching, waiting. She couldn't' see who it was and it didn't matter._

"_Help! Please! I don't want to die!" She cried out. She was sure that the person had heard her, yet he didn't seem to react in anyway. And by then, it was too late; one of the zombies grabbed her and pulled her back. Just before she was overwhelmed by the horde she reached out with her hand screaming. "Help! Wesker please help me! Don't leave me here!" But her voice was cut off when rotting teeth gnawed her throat open, splashing her blood all over the feasting horde…._

She had been lucky enough not to scream, since that would only have interested Wesker to come and provoke her in some manner or way. Claire let out a small sigh; her nightmares seemed to get more terrifying each passing month.

Claire bit her lip in anger; she could already imagine the smirk on Wesker's face and some biting words. She turned around and kicked a pile of clothes on the floor; she really didn't bother to clean up much. Finally, she walked over to the table in her room and picked up a book Wesker had bought for her few days ago. Her expression was pure disgust when she realized that the book was a collection of short stories written by H.P Lovecraft.

"I can't believe it…He has to mock me with literature choices too…" She muttered.

With one more glance to the alarm clock, still 4 am, she sighed and changed to jeans and black t-shirt. She picked up the book and opened the door to the empty corridor. It was quiet, and with curtains hanging over the windows the atmosphere around the penthouse was quite spooky. The wooden floor was cool underneath her bare feet as she sneaked to the living room. She was rarely up before Wesker, usually they met only briefly before he left to work, or to whatever he did.

She opened one of the white curtains to see a morning mist cover the quiet city beneath, it was eerily quiet and serene scene to look at. Claire put on few lights in the living room and sat down on a couch, opening the book from a random page. Somehow she had managed to open the book from point where a new short story started, and couldn't help but stare the title of the story; "An Outsider".

The name of the story had piqued her interest enough to start reading the story, and it was just as intriguing to her, and yet, it made her somewhat sad as she kept reading forwards.

The story told about a being, an ancient thing that had forgotten what the moon and stars looked like, but remembered vaguely what they were. The main character in the story couldn't remember what it was and how it had ended up in an old moulding and damp castle.

Yet it had managed to escape its prison and seek out other people, only to realise that it itself had been a monstrous being, so horrifying that people had ran away screaming.

After reading the story she closed the book and placed it onto a table in front of the sofa and just for a moment she stared into nothing, buried in her thoughts.

Claire couldn't help feeling like she was that being, forgetting slowly what stars and moon were, what a normal life was about. It was like she was locked up in a cold evil castle and Wesker held the key to the gate.

She didn't know how long she had sat there in her thoughts before she reached out to pick up the book again.

Just when she was about to pick up the book a she heard a soft familiar voice "Morning Claire, rare to see you up so early in the morning." Claire turned to see Wesker standing in the doorway in full clothing, holding a briefcase.

"Couldn't sleep." Claire said and picked up the book and started to search for another interesting story.. Wesker walked behind her, trailing his hand on her shoulder and hair "Nightmares?" He asked softly. Claire didn't answer and tried to focus on the book, but she couldn't when Wesker brushed his fingers across her cheek and neck. "Maybe I can help put them to rest?" He said quietly. But before Claire could reply, he left her and moved over to the kitchen "Do you want coffee or tea?" He asked, Claire frowned "Surprise me..." She said angrily and muttered afterwards quietly "I couldn't care less…" and before long Claire could smell the sweet aroma of coffee, and soon Wesker came back with two large cups of steaming coffee. Claire glared at him while he walked over to her and placed the other up in front of her onto table and sat down on a red armchair across Claire.

"Do you enjoy it?" He asked and sipped the coffee. Claire closed the book with a sigh "I was enjoying it, even though I'm not a greatest fan of horror stories." She said and picked up the coffee cup.

Wesker's expression was amused "They do tend to get…dull, once you experience the real thing." Claire kept her cool "Like running around a city full of dead people walking, hmm? Like Raccoon city for example?"

"For example yes." Wesker agreed with amused look in his eyes and drank more of the coffee. Claire felt anger seep into her again "Or seeing you steal both Steve and Chris away from me?" She snarled and drank almost all the coffee with one gulp.

Wesker smiled "Now now Claire, I did kill Chris, but I only took Steve's dead body, I didn't "steal" him from you." He said and added with a soft chuckle "though his corpse did offer a fine chance to study the disappointing veronica virus."

Claire almost slammed the mug onto the table with an angry glance directed at Wesker who enjoyed the dark brewage slowly. "You really are a devil, you know that?"

"Quite many have that opinion about me, dear." Was the only answer she got. "Which story were you reading Claire?" Wesker suddenly asked and placed his cup onto the table next to the book and studied his captive with curious look in his cat like eyes. Claire stared Wesker into eyes and raised her other brow "The outsider," are you familiar with it?" Wesker gave her a rare smile, not smug, but neither a joyful one. "Quite, I've read it through couple of times in my life. Quite fascinating stories, I thought that you might enjoy it." Claire shifted her eyes from Wesker's eyes to the book.

Claire gave a snarky smile "Didn't think you to be fiction reading type."

Wesker drank the rest of his coffee and placed the empty mug next to Claire's "What did you think of the story?"

Claire frowned "What? Are you thinking that I don't realise the same elements in the story as in my life? Being trapped inside a cage for so long time that eventually you wont even remember your own name?" Wesker placed the empty cup in front of him "You draw conclusions out of nowhere, I was simply asking how did you like it." Yet, he gave Claire a devious look "And I'm sorry that you feel that way my darling, maybe I could expand your "cage".

"It would still be a cage. It makes no difference if it in covered in gold and filled with diamonds." Claire snapped back and moved her right leg to rest on the left one, keeping her eyes on Wesker all the time.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way Claire, and I didn't mean to agitate you, I merely wished to have a nice conversation with you." He said with small hint of mockery.

She didnt like the fact that the man was smiling at her the fact she hated even more was that she had fallen into his trap again with letting herself be provoked by his words.

"One doesn't simply sit down and have a decent conversation with you. You are always after something."

Wesker smiled "There is no point doing things without some sort of reason or objective."

Claire sighed "Especially if you are the one benefitting from it, right? " She kept a small pause and sighed and looked at Wesker with almost kind look "At least you even admit it yourself."

She stood up and walked over to the window to gaze down at the scenery. "What's the point in this…you keeping me here. You said you wanted me, that I would surrender." She looked over her shoulder at Wesker "I don't see a point in this game." She said casually, with no hate or anger. "Doesn't this bore you? The cat caught the mouse only to play with it, but don't oyu get bored of this pointless game?" She closed her eyes and heard how he captor got up from his seat and walked behind her, placing his hands onto her shoulders. "Think what you want Claire, you cant outrun the inevitable. " Claire didn't even flinch when she felt Wesker's hot breath against her neck "And that is?" She asked.

Wesker smirked with hint of mockery "Dear heart, you shouldn't ask questions to which you know the answer, its not polite."

She asked but never got her answer, for Wesker moved away and picked up his suitcase "See you in the evening Claire." Claire turned to see Wesker walk away to the door, but before he left she whispered, "Leon and Jill are still out there, they might not know that I'm alive, but I know they are. Someone will stop you, I might be helpless here, locked away and hidden, but others aren't. " Wesker turned around to see Claire glaring at him, with piercing eyes. With something that she didn't have so often anymore; determination. But when Wesker stared her down, Claire lowered her gaze to ground "They are alive…" She repeated and then held her silence.

Wesker didn't see a reason to respond this and decided that he had lingered long enough. "See you in the evening Claire." He said and left the room, leaving the red haired woman to her thoughts.

Claire's eyes regained a small amount of determination when she thought of her friends. "They are out there, they…Leon is alive…"

Then she laughed softly, looking longingly through the window

"I still have hope."

She got up from the seat and walked over to the window. Claire had noticed, and Wesker mentioned the fact that she spent a lot of time standing over the window. Staring the quite normal city scenery below. Yet, she couldn't help it. Watching people doing their daily routines gave her comfort when she had none. Claire admitted to herself that she felt often a bit bitter when all those people went on living their lives without any idea of the impending doom awaiting them if Wesker succeeded in his plans…if he finished the Uroboros virus. A part of her wished if she was one of those who had never learned what really was going on in the world.

Even though BSAA and TerraSave had exposed Umbrella, bringing the truth about zombies and BOWs to the public, it really had no meaning. Wesker worked without any problems with an organisation funding BSAA… The situation really seemed to be hopeless, but she couldn't give up, not while Leon was still out there, fighting against those such as Wesker.

It was like she lived inside a tiny fragment where time didn't exist. She closed her eyes again and pressed her head against the cold glass of the windows, she raised her right hand against the glass as well. She hated this place because had all the time she needed to think about every mistake and choice in her life. Maybe she was doomed to live this way for the rest of her life, in a cage, but she wished she had even one item or item to remind her of Chris. He was gone and she had accepted it, but she couldn't bear to think spending the rest of her life without anything to keep he memory of his face alive. But she knew that Wesker would never bother to care about the longing after her brother. But yet, would it hurt asking him to get her a memento to hold onto? With sigh Claire turned around and leaned against the glass which was bullet proof and gazed around the room "So…what to do today?"

Eventually she picked up the book and continued reading, drowning herself into the pages and her imagination.

Hours passed as she read through the book, story after story. Reading had become one of her most favourite activities ever since Wesker had captured her. It gave her a chance to escape the boundaries of her cage into her imagination. She wondered about the recent weeks of her life. How Wesker had been almost caring with her. What would it be like if she accepted him? What did he even mean with that? Even if she accepted him as her…husband, companion or whatever, what would it change? She would still be caged, with no real freedom. Her eyes saddened as she closed the book and rose into a sitting position on the couch. "Maybe it only was the illusion of freedom he offers me." She whispered. The words had a bitter taste in them.

Even when Wesker took her to theatre or to walk in park, they had hollow taste in them. Knowing that there ere always more than one pair of eyes on her made it quite depressing.

She had tried to escape so many times without any success. Either Wesker caught her in seconds or HUNK in minutes.

She glanced over her shoulder back to the city. She missed the simple joys and burdens of life. This luxury felt wrong and didn't suit her and she had never been so lonely in her life.

She looked up to the ceiling with sad eyes. She could accept this life she had no choice really. Wesker wasn't known for making mistakes and that meant that he would never let her go willingly. She felt how her eyes started to water and soon few tears rolled down her cheek. "Chris…Why did you leave me." If only she had a single picture to remind herself of him, something to keep the memory alive. She snorted and wiped the tears away. Wesker would never get her a picture of her brother. But…if she really meant anything to him, perhaps …perhaps he could be swayed.

She stood up and left the book forgotten onto the glass table. Claire moved over to the grand piano she had and opened the lid to see the black and white keys. She lightly brushed her hand over them, not pressing a single one down. This piano was her only friend in her new life. She found comfort in the music she played when Wesker wasn't around. She had memorised many songs and could play a lot more with notes without a single mistake.

She hated to admit it, but part of her was grateful for Wesker to get her this. When she had been younger she had always dreamed of getting a grand piano, but it had always been nothing but a dream. She or Chris could have never afforded for such a pricy item. But now she played one almost daily. But that dream was also corrupted now. Claire bit her lip. Wesker had the talent to destroy or corrupt all her dreams by just handing them to her. It was disgusting. It was hard to explain. It was as if all her dreams and wishes were given to her in perverted and disgusting form. There was no joy in getting them, no memories to cherish or enjoy, these items held no stories or joy. They were hollow.

As she started to play one memory she had never really cared for came.

She hated to admit it, but when she had been younger…she had had a small crush on Wesker. Nothing lasting, but it had been there. Few months after the fight with Chris and spending night in Wesker's apartment, they had met again.

* * *

"_No Miranda, I'm spending the week end in Raccoon city, I wish I could come with you guys, but I'm here already, so no can do." Claire laughed as she talked to one of the school frie__nds via cell phone while walking the streets of the Raccoon city towards the police station. Her friend had called her about a weekend trip to beach and all, but she was already in Raccoon city to meet her brother so it was out of question. _

_She took a turn around the corner and was pretty close to the station. She sighed, "You know my brother, probably swimming in paperwork, well see you next week!" _

_Claire opened the main door to the police station as she looked down at her phone to close the call._

_Then out of blue she hit something hard and tall. Claire let out a small yelp and dropped her cell phone. But the sound of the metal and plastic hitting the ground never came since a gloved hand moved fast to catch the small item in mid air._

_Claire who had recovered from the impact looked up to her brother's captain looking down at her. His eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses, making it hard to read his expression. "Captain Wesker!" Claire said surprised._

_The blond man handed the cell phone to her "Ms. Redfield, surprise to see you here. Looking for your brother I assume." He asked casually, or at least Claire thought he was being casual. Claire took the phone and put it into her black shoulder bag. "Yes, I'm spending a weekend here, Chris told to meet here."_

_Wesker tilted his head to right a bit "Last time I saw Mr. Redfield was writing a report on…" But what ever he was going to say was interrupted by Chris who rushed over to them "Claire!" He said and got his sister's attention in the crowd of people with different dilemmas. They both turned to face the STARS officer who was clearly irritated. "Captain." Chris acknowledged Wesker before he turned to Claire "Sis, sorry but It will take a hour from me. I..." he started but went silent, clearly because Wesker was present. The older man's expression was cold "Lost a bet to Mr. Burton during lunch, I'm not blind." His captain said._

_Claire wanted to strangle her brother for making her wait another hour but then again she couldn't say that she was surprised. _

_She let out a small sigh "Chris, tell you what, go write that report, I'm off to the café I could use a cup of coffee after that train trip." Then she remembered something and turned to Captain Wesker "If I remember right I owe your captain a cup of coffee. Care to join?" The blond man didn't seem to notice or simply care about the fact that Chris was staring at him. "I could spare the time, dear heart." He said much to her surprise, she had been quite sure that he would turn down the offer. Then he added with smirk "But I'm buying." He said before the headed outside, leaving her brother stranded._

_Claire swirled the spoon in the hot dark brewage and looked outside the window to see busy people walking on the sidewalk and few cars passing the cosy café they had chosen. It was quite pretty and busy place with lots of people enjoying their afternoon tea and coffee before heading. They hadn't really shared any words; Chris' captain seemed to be made from stone and ice when it came to conversations. "Nice place, do you come here often?" She opened the conversation casually while waiting for her coffee to cool down enough to be drinkable. Wesker, who still had the sunglasses on, and had ordered a tea, responded her question with short answer "No, first time here. The place seemed pleasant enough." _

_Claire wasn't sure if the man didn't like her or if he simply preferred silence. Then, suddenly Wesker reached up and took of his sunglasses, placing them onto the table. Claire could feel butterflies in her stomach when Wesker looked at her. His eyes were steel blue and piercing, almost if he was looking at her soul._

"_Chris talks often about you." He noted before picking up the cup of tea. Claire smiled "Good things I hope." _

"_Mostly." Came a somewhat awkward answer…one which reminded her to have a little talk with her brother later. "You two seem to be close with each other." He continued and placed the cup again onto the plate. _

_Claire didn't know really how to feel, the man was so blunt, clearly a "no nonsense" type. "Yes, I owe Chris a lot. Mostly for taking care of me." She said without going to details about how her and Chris' lives and crashed after their parents had died. "Yes, of course." Wesker said casually and added "What were you thinking about doing after you finish your studies?" It took all of Claire's mental strength to prevent her from raising her brow in disbelief and snorting. Such odd topics. "I honestly don't know." She admitted and sipped the coffee "Id prefer to do something where I can help people." _

"_What do you major in?" came next question. "Psychology and social studies. I'd like to work with people, helping others in some way…though I'm not sure in what…" She answered and was sure that she caught a hint of a small mocking smirk on the man's face. Somehow she started to think that the whole idea about the coffee had been a bad one. "Sounds intriguing." The man said, almost as if her career choices were amusing to him… Claire felt bit angry and wanted to point out that he was a STARS officer whose duty was also about protecting people. But since Wesker had not been outright rude with her…_

"_What is it like to be a captain of the best of the best of Raccoon city police department? Serving the people hmmm?" She asked trying to sound polite and sincere, but Wesker could catch the small hints in her tone and in the type of the question._

_She noted how the man's eyes narrowed slightly; he had caught on. Claire felt her neck hair rise as she was under the man's gaze, yet she couldn't look away._

"_It's a job, one I'm good at." He said._

_Claire smirked and leaned slightly forward "serving the people and all?" She asked._

_Wesker smirked coldly "Don't understand me wrong dear heart, I was chosen for my skills, not for my cause. My job is to lead a team." _

_Claire felt frustrated, she had imagined the captain to be someone admirable but she disliked the man more each passing moment. It seemed like he disapproved on her views on helping others, yet he worked to serve the people of Raccoon city, clearly just because it gave him a paycheck. Her previous meetings with the man had been brief and even the night visit had been "brief" since she had been unconscious/sleeping most of the time, giving little time for conversation. But she had still imagined him to be different._

"_Clearly you aren't from police academy background, let me guess, military?" She pressed on, wondering slightly if the conversation was going to turn ugly. Wesker tilted his head to left "No, Private organisation." Claire held back a snort "Figures." She merely said. _

_Claire felt uneasy as the man stared at her with calculating and measuring look in his eyes, as if deciding whether she was a worthy enemy or not. "I heard your brother taught you self defence and knife skills?" He asked._

_Claire didn't like the way the conversation was going but went along "Yes, mostly hand- to hand combat, pistols and knives, nothing special."_

"_Don't you agree on that they are useful skills?" _

"_Of course, but I only use them to defend myself and my friends. I only depend on them when absolutely necessary."_

"_Like you depend on your brother to pay your studies?" He asked while sipping his tea, like the question had been as simple as talking about weather. Claire saw red. "That was unnecessary!" She hissed and rose up from her seat, getting several glances from other patrons. There was no way Chris ever told anyone about that, so the only answer was that his captain had done some digging up about his underlings. "You are nothing like I assumed to be, I'm sorry that I was wrong." She said angrily and took few steps towards the door when she heard Wesker ask her in amused tone "And what exactly did you assume Dear heart?" She looked over her shoulder with confused and slightly hurt look, but she didn't say anything to the captain._

"_My advise for you dear heart. Never assume anything from anyone. It never works in your advantage." _

_Claire bit her lip to hold down a remark she would regret. She swallowed her anger "Enjoy the coffee." She said and stormed off._

_She hurried over to the RPD and waited for her brother to finish the damn report. Soon enough they were in Chris' apartment drinking tea. Chris stared with curious look "You've been frustrated the whole time I've been with you today, did your "coffee" with Wesker go badly? Claire looked away in anger "The man is a complete…. Bastard! I though him to be different." Chris sighed "It went that bad?"_

_Claire looked angry "I can't believe he was so rude to me!" _

_Chris smirked slightly "Why are you so upset sis? Everyone knows that Wesker is a rude and blunt person. Unless you have developed a crush on the captain?" _

_Claire felt her cheeks heat up and was pretty sure that her face was red. "Chris!" She said angrily. Declaring that what he was saying was utter foolishness._

_But she was lying really, she had had a big crush on her brother's captain and that's why his words hurt badly. Claire closed her eyes; she never wanted to see Wesker again._

Claire was dragged from her thoughts when she suddenly pressed a wrong key, causing the perfect harmony of the song to come crashing down. She looked down at the key, such a small mistake causing such discord.

Claire sighed and picked the songbook and shuffled through its pages, looking for something happier to play.

* * *

Wesker stared his laptop's screen without focusing on anything particular, his mind was away, and it made him annoyed. Not being able to focus on his work was most frustrating thing for him to happen, and if the fault was in himself it was even worse. His mind wandered to his captive again and again, leaving the Uroboros virus research forgotten. With hotkey he brought a picture of Claire onto the screen. He didn't know where or when it had been taken, but he had found it when he had done some background research back in STARS, and had never thrown it away. He had left it forgotten in files for years and had found it again after the Antarctic facility incident. Claire was pretty young in the picture, smiling at the camera with somewhat shy smile. Her hair was on the usual ponytail but her features seemed more soft. It was quite astonishing how she hadn't changed much over the years.

A small smirk formed on his lips as he thought of Claire, how she was almost his. He recalled all the moments when he had held Claire or when he had kissed her. He loved her innocence and how she was defiant to the end, never giving up even if the circumstances were hopeless. But everyone had their limits, their breaking point.

The Redfield girl was one of those woman who deserved to be adored and loved, those that deserve to be higher than others, in the manner of speaking. But he wanted to drag her down, lock her away and throw the key into abyss. She was his to the end, and only when the new world would begin would he let her out of the cage. But before that happened he would have to endure Excella and all the others who were all expendable.

It was a foreign feeling for him, to wish to hold on to something when he was ready to throw everything away, to sacrifice everything without second thought to achieve his goals. But Claire…he couldn't let go of her. It was rather strange feeling. The only thing he wanted to preserve from the old flawed world was Claire.

Wesker turned his attention to the door when he heard someone in high heels walk towards the lab. He put the photo off the screen just before Excella opened the door to the lab without knocking. Wesker fixed his eyes on the woman as she walked into the room, holding a metal case in her right hand, like she was already the queen of the universe.

"Ah Albert!" She said in graceful voice as she walked over to him. "The Uroboros virus has reacted to the altering just as you predicted! The breakthrough is near." She continued and sat onto the edge of his table. "Soon we'll be ready to move the operation to Kijuju and then no one will stop us, Albert."

Without any emotion Wesker looked up at her perfect face,´Just another pawn in my game. Your final move is at hand Excella.'

"Good, with the Uroboros ready for testing the new world is even closer for us to grasp." He said, knowing very well that Excella yarned to hear such promises, so simple minded even though being a genius in this field of science.

Excella smiled and pulled the case onto the table. With graceful moves she opened, revealing the content. A number of syringes was set neatly side by side, each one filled with liquid that was colourless.

Excella took one of them out of the case and flicked the glass few times before offering it to Wesker who took it and injected himself into arm with it. Excella shifted slightly "So, how is that little red bird you keep locked inside her cage?" She asked with hint of mockery in her voice. Excella never hid her dislike toward his captive.

"That doesn't concern you." The blonde tyrant replied calmly. There was no anger in his tone, even though he held no love for her inquiring about his relationship with Claire. He simply stated the facts.

Excella looked slightly sour but didn't press it. She closed the case but as she was going to pick it up, Wesker glared at her "Leave it, Ill have HUNK deliver it." He said, causing Excella to frown slightly. " He is…more suitable for the job." Wesker added after a small pause, enjoying how the words caused Excella to bite her tongue not to say anything back.

"As you wish, though I had looked forward to talk with ms. Redfield, locked inside that…." She had a small pause to find a fitting word. "Gilded cage of hers." She finished with a small devilish smile and laughed as she left the room.

Wesker turned his attention back to his work as soon as the sounds of Excella were far enough.

With few clicks he brought up a couple of documents onto the screen. They were closely detailed reports on his latest project, a further developed version of the experimental virus he was given by Birkin, the one that gave him his powers.

Wesker opened the table's drawer and pulled out a syringe filled with purple liquid. He held it up against the light to study it. Wesker was impressed how far he had been able to develop the existing virus, but he wasn't proud of his work, it was flawed. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how many times he had crushed the damn sample in his hand and started the whole process over, he couldn't bring it to the point he was satisfied with it.

Back when he had used it the risk of using the virus had been tremendous; and every one of the Wesker children had died except for him. Yet now he had mastered the virus with single test subject in mind, tailoring the virus to match the subject. But there still was a risk that the virus didn't work the way he wanted. The blond tyrant had managed to bring the success percentage to 98, but there was still a small possibility that the subject didn't react to the virus in the way he had.

And there was the catch; death was necessary for the virus to activate. Wesker ran his hand through his hair in frustration. The death also couldn't be lenient one. No painless poison or that kind of thing worked. The death had to be violent enough to cause the body such a trauma that the infected body would have to spent all the energy on repairing the damage, letting the brains have more time to adjust to the condition.

He was at his wits end and that made him angry, he couldn't make it so that the dead wouldn't be needed, but if that was the price for the power he had so be it.

He stared the vial with unimpressed expression and took the black sunglasses off to see his project as it was.

"My apologies dear heart, but this was the best I could do."

It was sad really. He had to kill Claire.

The shared words of the conversation they had had many, many times still haunted him, irritated him, the fact that her old love, Leon was still alive along with her friends. As long as they existed Claire was almost impossible to break. Her mind had faltered when she had learned that they had declared her dead so fast, that she existed outside her cage only as an empty grave. But no matter how hard he had tried to erase her existence from the outside world and lock her into an isolated world where only he, Excella, HUNK and millions of strangers existed, the fact that her friends were alive and well held her from submitting.

Another problem was that the BSAA and TerraSave had gained information about him and his dealings with the Tricell, With the Kennedy and Valentine investigating the case. His involvement wasn't clear or even visible, but it could be found out easily if you knew what you were looking for, and if Kennedy found out Claire was alive and with him, or worse Claire became aware of the situation, knowing that she wasn't dead to the world…It would destroy everything he had accomplished.

The dominating part of his mind wanted simply kill Kennedy and Valentine off as quickly as possible, but the problem was that Claire wasn't stupid. If her friends died just like that, he knew that he would be behind it one way or another…no…it had to look like he was not responsible in anyway, or better have it look like it was all fault of the anitumbrella activists. Their deaths could do either great damage, or great progress for him.

He processed the thoughts for a while; trying to find the best conclusions, best moves to make. Finally, he stood up, pulling out his cell phone and called HUNK…

* * *

Claire was deeply focused on the music she played every note was precise and the harmony was created. She heard the door open and close, and how someone walked towards in heavy steps. She guessed that it was Wesker. Sometimes he visited her during day, and no one else really had the access to the apartment. When she ended the song, the man behind her smiled and said "That was quite beautiful." Claire almost jumped when she realized that the man standing close behind her wasn't Wesker but HUNK.

She turned around and got up "Oh…I didn't expect you, Wesker sent you?" she asked. She didn't really know what to think of HUNK, he only hurt her if she tried to escape or such. The man was a mercenary, working for the one who had the biggest paycheck. He was in this for the money.

She then noticed the suitcase he was holding. "A new serum batch for him?" She said and noted towards the black suitcase. "Yes." He replied.

Awkward silence fell over them when neither of them had really nothing to say to each other. "So…how are you doing ms. Redfield? I see you've gotten even better at playing then before." HUNK said as he placed the heavy metal case onto Wesker's worktable. Claire smiled a bit "Thanks, well, I got time to practice." She joked a bit. "And considering the situation I'm in…I'm sure I could do physically worse…beaten up and all."

HUNK let out a small soft chuckle "True, Well, I'm pretty sure you wont have to fear that you'll share your brother's fate. "

Claire felt a sting in her heart when HUNK mentioned Chris' fate "Id prefer if you didn't mention my brother." She said bitterly and added, "Though I don't think that I would object if Wesker decided that I deserved the same fate."

The mercenary shrugged "My apologies." But Claire knew very well that the man couldn't care less about her preferences. Claire couldn't help but become curious when the man didn't leave the penthouse like she had expected. In stead he lingered, shuffling through the bookcase.

Finally she couldn't help her curiosity "Don't you have work to do?" HUNK turned lazily towards her. "Yes, but not at this time of day." Claire glanced at the grandfather clock that was standing against the wall, next to the large bookcase filled with different books from research books to different genre novels Wesker had gotten for her. It was past 4 pm. She snorted and walked over to kitchen to get herself a glass of water "Figures, bodies are easiest to hide during night." HUNK laughed dryly, clearly amused by Claire's words "Quite so." He agreed and smiled at her when Claire returned.

Claire kept her eyes on the mercenary as he strolled around the room, studying all kinds of objects he found interesting. Claire noted that his manners were quite different when Wesker wasn't around. Finally the man sat down into an armchair, completely relaxed. "So, what do you like of your life in here?"

Claire had hard time believing that HUNK had just asked such a question so casually. Like it was some kind of conversation starter. She sat down on the sofa and examined HUNK with thoughtful look on her face "Well what do you expect it to be? Well its hell…" She answered and HUNK raised his brow. "Really? I imagined millions of women dreamed of this kind luxury." He teased her, causing Claire to glare at him. "I hate it here." She said with stone cold look in her eyes.

HUNK folded his fingers together and leaned his chin against them. "I see that, and even if you don't believe it, I understand you." He said.

The Redfield girl swallowed and turned her gaze away. ´_What does he know about this? My life? He is just a gun for hire.´_

"You hate it here because every day is the same, no routine, nothing…you feel like you are nothing, just a ghost of yourself. Fading away every day a little bit." The mercenary said and Claire had trouble breathing, every word hurt her soul.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life in here, in this cage. I don't want to be Wesker's possession, not after everything he has done." She said quietly and looked down. HUNK leaned back, studying her with sparkles eyes "You know you could get more freedom if you just accepted what Wesker wants from you." HUNK noted but the advice merely caused Claire to look at him angrily. "I cant the price is too high." She answered.

"I can't lose to him…"

HUNK shook his head "you are fighting a battle you cant win, Wesker is a foe you cant fight against." The man said. " He doesn't follow the rules."

Claire growled "What? Did he send you to persuade me to surrender to his will? To accept my fate as his little puppet!" She snapped at the man.

HUNK looked at her with calm and collected expression. "No, I merely came to bring the serum batch."

"I don't believe you." Claire hissed. HUNK smiled "I have no reason to lie to you Claire, I'm offering you an advice, and I suggest that you heed them. I know Wesker, at least I think I do know him enough to tell you that it will be easier for you if you accept him."

Claire laughed and shook her head "No…I don't believe that either of us knows him, and no, I don't believe that it would be any easier, besides, I will not submit, not when I still have hope." Then she leaned back and eyed him suspiciously "besides, you have every reason to lie to me, he pays you after all."

Hunk looked curious. "Hope? Of escape? Defeating him? What do you mean?"

Claire could tell that the man was genuinely curious. "My…friends are still there, I know that it is only a matter of time before they peel away the layers of lies and discover that I'm alive and what Wesker is up to."

HUNK shook his head " I admire your resilience and determination, I probably can never understand the emotions behind them." He said.

Claire admired the man; he might have been a gun for hire, yet he seemed to be sincere. "I have to stay strong. I know that there are people working and fighting against Wesker that the antiumbrella organisations are there, fighting he good fight for better future. If I give up, I betray myself in every way possible."

HUNK stared her with grey eyes, thoughtful "You believe in your friends, how admirable. I rarely see such a faith in someone that it keeps them true to their ideals and nature. I see, so it's an endurance battle then." Claire felt really stupid, the man probably though everything with battle in mind.

"How long have you been here by now?" HUNK continued.

Claire felt her heartbeat fasten when she remembered the cruel gift Wesker had given her for their "anniversary". She looked down and bit her lip. Just thinking about the time she had spent with Wesker made her feel ill and distressed.

"Over a year." She whispered. Saying it out loud made it sound even worse.

"That's a long time." HUNK noted and Claire let out a small sigh "yes, quite a long indeed." And gazed out of the window longingly. Time went by slowly. Claire couldn't help but imagine what her life would be like if Wesker had used violence and torture to get what he wanted from her. She would have been broken quickly that was for certain.

HUNK noted how Claire stared out of the window with longing look in her eyes, as if she had forgotten his existence already "Do you long the outside world?" He asked.

Claire let out a joyless laughed, "Do I? Of course I do." She said as if the man was complete idiot.

HUNK raised his brow "Why don't you just ask him to take you outside? I understood that Wesker took you out if you asked." Then he grinned "oh, the times I tackled you when you tried to escape…." He mused, causing Claire to glance at him.

"Its not the same." She muttered while staring out of the window. "I'm still a prisoner. Its all hollow and empty of feeling."

"So you rather just huddle yourself up here and voluntarily seclude yourself from the world?" HUNK asked curiously, causing Claire to rise up from the seat suddenly. "That's not it! I…I."

"Do you fear to go outside?"

Claire swallowed and stared HUNK into eyes. His piercing grey eyes bored into her and held her captivated.

"No…. that's not it." She whispered.

The man just stared her with those cold grey eyes. That look, that piercing stare that looked straight into her soul. "I'm not afraid to go outside, I'm not afraid of the world. I don't have some…some ridiculous Stockholm syndrome!" She snapped.

HUNK didn't press the matter and Claire was grateful for him.

"Do you have cognac? I could use a drink before I start my mission." HUNK asked, clearly wanting to change the subject to something else.

Claire couldn't help but be amused "Drinking while on duty, I'm sure that Wesker wouldn't approve of that." Se teased the man who shot her a nasty grin "Still 8 hours to it, Ill manage, a small amount would be fine."

Claire shifted her eyes to a small cabinet with class doors where Wesker kept the few and extremely rare liqueurs he liked. Wesker rarely drank anything that contained alcohol, but on rare occasions, usually when work was going really well or some major research had been finished, he took a glass of cognac or whiskey with her, not that she really cared for such things.

HUNK watched with smile when Claire got up and walked slowly over to the cabinet and opened the class doors without making a sound. A proper hostess would have asked what the guest would have liked to have, but Claire wasn't one of those. She pulled the first bottle of cognac that caught her eye and snatched 2 glasses from another shelf of the cabinet.

_´What the hell, I could use a drink as well. ´_ She thought and strolled back to the mercenary who grinned when Claire placed the 2 classes on to the low class table. She opened the bottle and poured the small round glasses half full. HUNK snatched the other one and smelled it "Ah there is nothing better than high quality cognac." He said and sipped a bit. Claire finished pouring the other glass and closed the bottle, placing it next to the glass before picking it up. She tasted the drink. The liquid burned her throat gently as it travelled down. She had never really been much of a drinker and became intoxicated quickly.

"Did he sent you to kill someone tonight?" She asked and took another gulp. HUNK gently swirled the cognac inside the glass with slight hand moves "Only to steal some info, but if I have to kill someone, Ill do it without hesitation."

Claire nodded calmly, knowing that the mercenary never hesitated to kill if he had to.

HUNK gazed up to the grandfather clock, and Claire saw from his facial features that he had to go.

"I'm sorry miss Redfield, but I have to do some preparations before the evening." Claire watched as HUNK drank rest of the cognac with one gulp and got up " Thanks for the drink."

HUNK was about to turn around to leave but instead, he asked one more question.

"Tell me Claire…Do you honestly believe that you will be saved?"

Claire was taken back by the question, not only because it had come out of blue, but also because the tone held no maliciousness or pity. It was merely a question, nothing more.

She was silent for a moment before nodding. HUNK knew how to read people, and everyone else would probably have though that she believed in it. But he knew better. Her eyes betrayed her.

It was really pitiable…

She wanted to believe it but couldn't.

"I see, well, I have to go now. Maybe well see again soon." HUNK said politely and left. As he walked towards the door a small smile formed on his lips, and it wasn't a friendly one.

As soon as the door was closed he pulled out the cellphone without stopping. HUNK dialed Wesker's number and entered an elevator. "Yes?" Wesker's voice asked.

HUNK grinned, "I'm in…I definitely think that your plan will work."

Then he closed the phone and put it back into his pocket, whistling quietly as he slowly descended down.

* * *

Claire stared the bottle on the table. She wondered if she should take another glass to enjoy. Right now Claire's head was a mess, thousands of thoughts, ideas and memories came and went, making her mind fall into discord. Finally her facial expression turned into hate and she grabbed the bottle "To hell with this!" She growled and poured another glass.

Claire drank the bitter drink down with one gulp and then stared the lamp light through the glass. "What's the difference with dreams and real life if they all are just nightmare after nightmare." Her grip tightened around the glass and it started to fracture. Her hand shook violently and tears started to stream down her face. "I hate it, I hate it all...I hate Wesker, Excella, HUNK...I hate you Leon. Why don't you save me." The glass exploded under the pressure but Claire's hand had not stopped shaking. She didn't care about the pain the glass shards buried in her palm caused, or about the blood streams seeping downwards.

She grabbed the bottle next. A small smile formed on her lips as she studied the bottle hatefully. With sudden burst of rage she threw the bottle with all her strenght across the room. The poor bottle hit the door and exploded, splashing it's contains all over the wall and floor.

Claire shook her head and giggled softly before slumping against she sofa's back. She rested her neck on top of it and stared blankly the ceiling.

"That's it Leon, I've fallen to alcoholism."

She closed her eyes and smiled.

"I'm a disgrace."

...

"I wish Wesker would kill me."

* * *

EDIT: Edited the stupid mistake about the time Claire has spent...well...caged. I forgot all about the "anniversary" thingy. My thanks go to Necrosame who pointed this terrible fact out! Its fixed now.

And other thanks go to Naoko Suki! The bottle smashing idea was the best and I was mad at myself for not thinking about it! My writing skills are so rusty :( I spent writing this one chap like 5 months! And started to damn thing 3 times again.

Puuuh, took me forever. Anyways, have had a hectic year. I moved from my childhood home and started my own life. This chapter was more about what is going on Wesker's and Claire's mind and was a set up for the next chapter-

Thanks for all readers, you keep me writing even though it takes me forever to do anything. Thanks you!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Ranting in the end

* * *

Wesker pulled off his sunglasses as he stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the luxury yet extremely secure penthouse that was also his captive's gilded cage. The day had been extremely tiresome for him, the uroboros was getting closer to completion, but the closer they got the more complications there seemed to be. In addition to the uroboros he had the virus for Claire under work, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't reduce the risk of failure.

The fact was, that there was nothing more he could do about it...in the end it all came to how willing Claire's body would be to accept the virus once injected. Wesker hated to admit it, but now that he knew there was nothing he could do, he had become somewhat reluctant to do this to Claire because there was a chance of failure, but then again, the same chance had been when he had injected himself with Virus William had given him.

When Wesker was about to unlock the door to the penthouse, he frowned slightly since he picked up a strong reek of alcohol in the air. He hesitated only about a half second before opening the door and even with his enhanced senses and reflexes, Wesker could barely dodge the flying whiskey bottle that speeded at him and crashed against the heavy wooden door behind him. Wesker calmly eyed the broken glass beside him for a moment before turning his golden red eyes to his captive who was sitting on the couch with flushed face and angry eyes. "Wh….whas you looking at Whesker…" Claire blurted out angrily and eyed her captor with clear frustration.

Wesker walked slowly closer to the intoxicated woman while keeping his eyes on her the whole time. When he reached the table, he picked one empty bottle from the low table and checked its etiquette "Oh Dear heart, it is not good to drink alone." Wesker chuckled and took off his black coat, placing it onto one of the armchairs and picked a glass off the table. Even an idiot could see that the young woman was drunk to the point she stopped being all reasonable and Wesker somehow found the whole situation very interesting; it was a chance to study Claire while she was intoxicated.

Claire stared Wesker suspiciously as he filled the glass with whiskey before tasting it, eyeing his captive the whole time. "Shu…shut up!" Claire growled and placed the half empty bottle onto the table. "It ish none of your businessh what I do Whesker…" she continued with bright red cheeks and somewhat hazy eyes. "If you choose to keep me here without my c...consent, you might just as well expect me become drunkard…" Claire snapped angrily. Wesker swirled the drink in the glass slightly and chuckled "Being wasted doesn't suit you dear heart."

The comment from Wesker caused Claire to fix her hair angrily "You don't have any right to say what I'm supposed to be like and what suits me." She said and stood up while eyeing Wesker with doubt and anger.

Wesker's expression didn't change in the slightest as Claire stared him with suspicion and bitterness "I wonder Wesker…did you expect this to happen? Don't tell me you are surprised..." She mocked and walked over to Wesker with somewhat staggering steps. Wesker's eyes narrowed slightly but he didn't say anything to the young woman. Claire pouted a bit and poked Wesker into chest with her index finger "You know what Wesker, I think you are the weakest person I've ever known...couldn't beat anyone in S.T.A.R.S and even Alexia was stronger than you." Claire continued with somewhat amused expression on her face. "And you had to resolve in stealing a young boy's corpse because nothing else was left of the veronica virus...tell me, your employers must have been _very_ proud of their investment. Two bases destroyed, millions lost and you return with empty hands." Claire laughed out loud like it had been the best joke ever and leaned against Wesker who seemed merely unimpressed.

"I think that is enough Claire…" The blonde tyrant said almost threateningly quietly and took hold of her arm gently. "I think you better go to bed and sleep your head clear before you say something that will really provoke me." Wesker continued, he was for once too tired to play with Claire right now and it seemed that the woman found everything either extremely tragic or funny at this point.

"Don't touch me!" Claire snapped angrily and with sudden burst of rage she tried to shove Wesker away, but the hours of drinking had rendered her balance to almost zero and the sheer force of her push made Claire herself lose her balance and fall. The young Redfield girl didn't let any kind of a sound when her body fell and her arm hit the glass table painfully hard, shattering it to hundreds of pieces. A great amount of the glass shards pierced her skin and buried themselves painfully into her soft and warm flesh.

Even with his enhanced reflexes and senses, Wesker was tired and the situation had escalated too quickly for him. Only when the damage had been done did Wesker quickly kneel down to see how bad the wounds were. Claire let out a small whimper and didn't feel any pain at first but slowly the piercing and burning pain made its way her intoxicated brain and she realized what had happened to her.

Claire slowly turned her head to glance at her arm that was filled with glass shards and covered with thick warm blood that ran down her arm and slowly onto the carpet. "Oh…" The young Redfield said weakly and felt a wave of shame and depression wash over her, how could she let anyone see her like this…let alone Wesker. "Don't touch me…please.." Claire whispered weakly and felt her eyes get watery; she was such disgrace. The pain had cleared her brains a bit. "Let me see it." Wesker said gently and picked Claire up before carrying her to the bathroom. The strong man in black sat Claire on a wooden chair as he went to get some bandages, cleansing tonic and health spray bottle from the first aid kit on the wall. Claire shivered and wiped her tears away with her bloodied hand, tattering her beautiful clothing and face into the crimson liquid. A part of Claire just wanted for Wesker to leave her alone and let her die of blood loss. "Wesker, please leave me alone. I can't deal with this..." Claire pleaded but Wesker wasn't listening to her.

Claire felt useless and ugly when she glanced at her bloodied clothing and skin, why was everything so messed up in her life?

"I need to clean the wound, Claire." Wesker stated as he sat down next to her and started to clean the wound from glass shards with unbelievable speed. Claire gritted his teeth as she endured the pain that her mind had so slowly reacted to. It felt like her arm was on fire and when the red haired woman glanced at Wesker's hands, she realized that they too were now covered in her blood. The wound was clean in no time and Claire watched as the last shard of class hit the metal plate Wesker had prepared for them.

"That was the last of them." Wesker said with almost caring voice and poured some purifying agent on a piece of cotton before cleaning the wound with few fast swipes that caused Claire wince in pain and let out small hiss, but thankfully her drunken mind numbed most of the pain.

The pain she could tolerate but the smell of fresh running blood made Claire feel ill. The young woman wanted to throw up but managed to get hold of her body. The smell reminded her of all the horrible things she had witnessed in her life... oh how she wanted it all just to end.

Claire's mind was hazy and everything seemed to happen so fast, or perhaps it was just that Wesker was so determined and quick in what he did that there was no messing around. "We are soon done here, Claire." Wesker murmured softly and sprayed a thick layer of healing spray on the wound before starting to bandage her arm so swiftly that Claire had trouble keeping up with the pace. "Thanks…" Claire replied when the blonde cut the bandage and finished up with his work. "I…I think I need some sleep now." Claire said and tried to get up from the chair but she was too drunk and weak from the blood loss to get up safely and Wesker was quick to support her, apparently she had lost quite much blood. "I'll get you there." He said and Claire didn't find any reason to protest against this, all she wanted was to get bed and sleep her head clear. "We will talk more tomorrow, dear heart." The man said and Claire felt shamed of herself, how could she let Wesker see her like this?

When they entered her room, Wesker helped the young woman to the bed, resting her gently on the soft covers before moving to the bathroom to get a towel to clean Claire's face and arm from the blood.. "You'll feel terrible tomorrow." Wesker said with almost amused voice as if he found her fragile human body's reaction to the alcohol interesting. "I know." Claire murmured and somehow it felt good that Wesker sat there next to her.

Wesker slowly brought the towel to Claire's skin, wiping most of the blood away from her face. Claire's heart was beating faster and faster and she suddenly felt very warm inside, safe almost. Their eyes met and for once, there was no single shred of hostility between them. How natural those golden eyes had become to her as she stared into them. The young woman stayed quiet as he captor cleaned her body from her own blood before finally murmuring "Thank you." when most of the blood was gone and placed her hand on Wesker's arm, it felt so warm against her skin.

She had been so alone for such a long time that feeling someone watch her while she rested, even if it was Wesker, felt good. The middle-aged man petted her cheek slightly and as he was about to leave, Claire grabbed his arm more tightly on an instinct "Stay.." She asked weakly, all she wanted was to have someone next to her this night. The look in Wesker's eyes was somewhat surprised and Claire feared that he would leave her "Please…If you want to do it with me that is alright too…just don't leave tonight…please Wesker.." God she was begging and even offering her body to him just to make him stay with her for the night.

The young Redfield's eyes pleaded Wesker to stay with her and the man seemed to relax, sitting back onto the bed "That won't be necessary…you are drunk Claire and tomorrow you'd only regret if we did it, as much as I'd like to." The blond man admitted and Claire shivered, so he really did want to sleep with her. "However I can stay with you, dear heart." The tyrant murmured to her and took a hold of her hand gently.

Claire shifted upwards; leaning against her captor while trying to ignore the pain her hand gave her. Slowly she leaned up and pressed her lips ever so gently and tenderly against Wesker's, it was her way of thanking him. The alcohol in her body muffled all the voices that had taunted and scolded her from the very first time she had given into Wesker's will and let him direct her, and now that she was momentarily free of the voices, Claire could really enjoy the moment, no matter how fleeting it was.

The young woman then lied down on the bed and pressed her head against the pillow that felt more inviting than ever. Her head was spinning and Wesker's presence felt oddly comforting to her, what would Chris say? No…Chris was dead and gone from her life forever, was she supposed to always mourn him and think of what he would do? He wasn't in her situation right now. Claire closed her blue eyes and shifted slightly as Wesker settled next to her, caressing her soft and lush hair, letting her feel protected and safe. Protected, how odd it sounded but that was she felt right now. Wrapped in the feeling of drunken comfort and safety, Claire drifted into the dream world that offered little else than a momentary escape from the problems.

* * *

Another morning came just like the others and Claire had long time ago stopped caring how long it had been. But this morning was different. Not only did Claire wake up startled but also with the most terrible headache and ill feeling in her stomach she had ever experienced, surely this was hell. Claire almost thought that Wesker had strangled her during the night and this was her personal hell where she was destined to suffer from the worst hangover in her life for all eternity.

The first rays of the morning sun forced their way into the room through the cracks of the blood red curtains and right into the Redfield girl's face. With a loud pained groan Claire buried her face into the pillow, the last evening was the last time she drank anything that contained alcohol. But when the events from the last night came fully back to her memory, Claire shifted up fast to see if Wesker was still there, but when the man was nowhere to be seen Claire started to wonder if all had been a dream after all.

However the sudden pain in her arm reminded her that it had not been a dream and that she had indeed made a total ass of herself in front of Wesker. Claire touched her bandaged arm and noticed few blood dots on the white cloth, apparently the wound had been worse than she had thought. The wounds had been so deep that even a layer of healing spray had not healed it completely. Claire lifted her legs off the bed and got into a sitting position, the day was going to be hell if she had to endure the hangover and Wesker's snarky comments. The Redfield woman glanced at the place next to her; indeed Wesker had slept there due to the markings on the covers. Claire rested her head against her hand, in order to banish the terrible headache with little success, _' God did I really offer myself to Wesker last night? I certainly hope not but then why would I have such memory?_' Claire thought and started to feel even worse.

The Redfield woman was too pained to even care or be startled when the door suddenly opened without knocking and the blonde haired man walked in, holding a cup with steaming contents. "My…awake at last, dear heart. How are you feeling?" The man asked somewhat amused, clearly aware that Claire was feeling the results of the last night drinking.

Claire lifted her gaze to Wesker and gave somewhat annoying stare "You can guess." She said bluntly and closed her eyes again; the light was making the headache worse. Wesker let out an amused chuckle and sat down next to Claire, handing her the cup. Claire mumbled a faint "Thank you" and picked the cup before slowly bringing it to her lips tasted the brewage, not really caring if it was poisoned or not since a death would be a welcomed compared to this thing she would have to endure the day.

The liquid inside the cup reminded Claire of an herbal tea but after tasting it, she was surprised to find it almost sweet and quite pleasant. "What is this?" She asked somewhat surprised. Wesker, who had not his sunglasses on gave Claire somewhat amused smile

"Just something to make you feel better, the symptoms of the hangover should be gone in about 20 minutes after drinking that." Wesker said to Claire's surprise

"Oh…sounds handy, I didn't know there was a treatment for hangovers.." Claire murmured and drank some more of the brew.

"Few do...it was supposed to be Umbrella's next product but it got stuck in testing stage before the unfortunate accident." Wesker said quietly and Claire felt slightly depressed since she knew that Wesker meant the mansion incident and the destruction of Raccoon City.

Once Claire was finished with the drink, she felt already a bit better. Claire didn't even get startled when Wesker took hold of her injured arm and studied it with his gold-red eyes. The events of the last night were fresh in Claire's mind and she hoped that the blond man wouldn't taunt her. "Looks like it is healing well, I'll re-bandage it and then I have to go, Claire." Wesker told her and Claire nodded, and for some reason she was almost sad to hear that, it would mean another day alone for her.

It was quite strange really…she had become so used to it but lately, she almost missed Wesker's company; even seeing HUNK would be welcomed. "A long day ahead of you?" Claire found herself asking and as result she gained an amused yet somewhat intrigued look from Wesker

"I have a lot of work to do, Dear heart. But don't worry…it is soon finished." The man answered and Claire bowed her head slightly, she knew exactly what kind of work was about to be finished. "Don't think about it too much Claire, soon you won't need to leave my side, ever." Wesker murmured to her and caressed Claire's arm. The young woman shivered and stared directly into Wesker's eyes, what did he mean by that?

Claire wasn't sure how much Wesker had lied to get all the funding and co-operation needed to create Uroboros, but she was certain that it wasn't simply a bio weapon to be used as a threat or simple weapon against a certain group of people. He wasn't intending to sell it on either. No, Wesker was going to infect the whole world with it.

"Is infecting the whole world the only answer you have?" she asked as Wesker undressed the bandage to re-do it.

His eyes were cold and certain "Yes." Came a short answer. "It isn't right, you have no right to destroy the whole world." Claire insisted but knew her words were useless

"You might not see it yet, Claire, but it needs to be done, you'll want it in the end as well." He answered her words and Claire shivered slightly since Wesker's touch was becoming somewhat more forceful.

"There is nothing that would cause me to want that." Claire replied and let out a small sigh when Wesker finished the job and stood up, eyeing her with those blazing eyes

"You'll see it my way, Claire...eventually." Wesker murmured before walking slowly out of the room to leave for the lab where he often spent days in row.

Claire touched her bandaged arm and could still feel Wesker's touch linger there. She felt so lonely; had Leon and other really forgotten all about her? Or did they think she worked with Wesker? No, that couldn't be. Or did they hate her? Had she meant anything to them at all? The thing Wesker had given her started to really kick in and Claire was starting to feel a lot better. The Redfield knew that she wasn't supposed to get the bandage wet but she really needed a bath and if she were careful, it would stay dry. With a loud sigh Claire moved into the bathroom and turned the water tap to fill the tub before stripping down and stepping into it, slowly sinking into the hot cleansing water to some serious thinking.

* * *

Leon frowned in annoyance as he showed the two pictures to the restaurant's server "Are you sure you haven't seen these two people? It is very important." The ex-cop asked from a man who seemed to be agitated by his and Jill's questions

"For the last time I don't remember! We get hundreds of guests each week and I can't possible remember two individuals!" The young man said but something in his act just didn't convince Kennedy and Valentine.

"You are lying, tell us the truth, we are on BSAA's business here, you don't want to lie to us." Valentine murmured angrily and the server seemed to get even more distressed. Leon smirked in his mind; the man was at his breaking point even though this wasn't really an interrogation. Usually mentioning the world's safety and the good of the country helped them to get the info they needed, especially since BSAA dealt with biological weapons.

In addition to that, Valentine and Kennedy had adopted the "good cop" and "bad cop" Play where Leon was usually the nice guy while Jill acted a cool and powerful female cop who didn't always follow the books. "Ok ok, I remember them…but I was scared to tell you guys…even our employer warned us not to talk about them since they seemed to be really important people or something." The young man murmured and tried to avoid direct eye contact.

"So you did see this red head woman and blond man?" Leon asked, finally they were getting at something. "Yeah, I didn't think much of them back then at first since they seemed the usual customers we get to the business section, but then the young woman fainted suddenly and there was a server I had never before seen; and he took her away while that blond man went back to the meeting, they were in same company."

Leon glanced at Jill who seemed to be just as surprised as him. Claire had been seen in Wesker's company. "Do you remember anything else, the way they dressed or acted?" Jill asked in stern tone, they needed every bit of information they could get. The server almost jumped when Jill talked to him in such tone

"I…yes… the blond man was wearing sunglasses the whole evening and the young woman had the most beautiful red dress I have ever seen…and a rose on her hair." The man remembered and looked at the pictures "The woman seemed almost sad when I served her the food…and then she suddenly fainted while coming from the ladies room."

Jill and Leon listened in silence as the server told them what he knew. Jill and Leon didn't really know what to think, this was the first time they had actually heard of someone seeing Claire; they had thought her to be dead, or that was BSAA's official take on her disappearance. Leon sighed and put the photos of Wesker and Claire back to his pocket, this was a first piece of good news they had gained in year. When the two had gotten every piece of information the young man could remember they decided not to press the poor man any further.

"Thank you for your time, you've helped us greatly." Leon said and the pair left quickly, leaving the poor man to recover from the intense talk session; it wasn't every day you got to deal with BSAA agents.

As the two left the restaurant by the back door and walked towards their parked car, the brown haired man glanced at his current partner who had lost her previous partner in Wesker's hands. "What do you make out of this?" Leon asked and Jill seemed to be buried in her thoughts, no doubt her mind was racing with all kinds of possibilities

"Claire is with Wesker, of that we can be sure…but why...Wesker isn't the type to take prisoners." The ex STARS member wondered out loud and Leon nodded to this. Even though he had never personally met Wesker, he had learned a great deal from Jill who seemed to hate the man more than anything, and Leon couldn't really blame her. The man had taken her friends and partner from her.

As they stepped to the busy street a man walking past Leon, suddenly bumped into him almost painfully. "Argh.." Leon let out and the man with a sand coloured hair turned with an apologizing look in his eyes

"Oh sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Before swiftly turning back to the direction he had been walking, hands in his pockets. Leon suddenly put his hand to his holster that had been on the side where the man had hit but it was still there

"What is it, Leon?" Jill asked curiously but Leon relaxed again when he noticed that both his wallet, and gun was still there

"Nothing." Leon murmured; he had thought the man to be a pickpocket. The man in black t-shirt disappeared behind a corner and Leon sighed, getting into the car with Jill before driving off to the hotel they were staying in.

* * *

When HUNK was sure that the pair had driven off with the device successfully implanted he took out his cell phone like device that served many purposes and was crafted by the Umbrella. The mercenary turned the device on and started the program that was tied to the small bug he had installed on Mr. Kennedy's holster, a very small listening device. HUNK smiled smugly when he realized that the small bug was recording everything the pair talked and transmitted the records to his device that of course couldn't be traced.

The mercenary then called Wesker who was once again focused on his research "The bug has been installed, now we will know what the two are up to." HUNK murmured to the phone and listened to further introductions. "Yes…I shall take care of the server…hope this will pay off." HUNK murmured to the phone before closing the call. The sand coloured haired man chuckled; to him it seemed that Wesker didn't act all reasonably when it came to dealing with Claire. The mercenary man would just have killed the pair but apparently Wesker had bigger plans for the two…no doubt he despised and wanted to make him suffer for loving Claire. The mercenary let out a small low chuckle, before heading to the back entrance of the restaurant to have a little talk with that server who had squealed. The man could barely wait to see how this drama would unfold itself, no doubt there was great scenes to be seen. Indeed a drama where Wesker would win everything.

* * *

Leon fell on the bed's soft covers and stared the white ceiling with tired eyes "What the hell should we do…this whole thing is a mess." Leon murmured and Jill nodded while taking off her jacket

"Yeah, I really don't know what to make out of this…this is the first time we've heard of Claire being alive…this…I just don't know what to do.." Jill said and let out a heavy sigh as she sat down on a wooden chair, trying to think through all the things they had learned.

"It has been over a year and only now we are making some process. But at least we now got some leads." Leon said almost angrily as he stared the ceiling, they had lived so long in total darkness and had presumed the worst and suddenly out of no where they learn that she is alive.

"Has Claire been with Wesker all this time? What have they done…the server said that Claire was in top condition minus the fainting, what do you think of it?" Leon asked from his comrade who had taken out her laptop to write a report on what they had learned.

The brown haired woman let out a heavy sigh and stared out of the window absent mindedly "I really don't know Leon, we can't ignore any possibilities, after all it has been so long since we've seen her, and even back when…Chris was alive, we didn't keep much in contact with her." Jill said and turned to face Leon who got up into a sitting position.

"What are you saying Jill? That Claire is working with Wesker? For god's sake he killed her brother! And the server said that she fainted, do you really think she is working with Wesker?" Leon snapped angrily at Jill who remained calm

"I didn't say that, Leon, but now that you mentioned it, yes...it is a possibility. She also could have fainted because of an infection of sort." Jill continued with somewhat unsure look on her face.

Leon's eyes narrowed slightly. Yes, he had thought of the possibility of an infection as well…it was very possible that Wesker had kept her as some sort of test subject and tortured her, but it was something he didn't want to think.

"There is no evidence of that." Leon answered but Jill only looked sad

"Leon, I know Wesker and he always gets what he wants, and I know he wanted Claire from the very beginning. It could be possible that he has persuaded her to work with him." She said sadly and Leon listened, not sure if he wanted to believe it; this was the first time he had heard of such thing.

"What? How come you haven't told me anything about this?" The ex-cop asked with somewhat horrified expression on his face.

"Back in the days when S.T.A.R.S was still operating, Claire often visited us to see Chris, and everyone in S.T.A.R.S knew her, even Wesker." Jill started and glanced away with frustration visible in her eyes

"I saw it straight away but kept the information to myself until only few years back. I saw how Wesker lusted for Claire, even if Chris didn't see it." Valentine continued and Leon listened closely, he had not had any idea.

"Wesker wanted Claire?" he asked unsurely and stared the woman who seemed to be both sad and angry.

" I didn't think much of it back then when I still believed him to be a good person and that he wouldn't do anything to Claire or approach her, but I saw that he wanted her…longed to touch her. After the mansion incident I didn't tell Chris since we all believed him to be dead but after the Veronica virus incident…I had to tell him."

Leon listened to Jill's tale curiously, the ex-S.T.A.R.S member had not told this to him before. For some reason Jill seemed to have very contradicting feelings varying from sadness to anger, but also regret.

"After I told him what I knew, he became over protective of Claire since she was his only remaining family member…that's why they lived together and why Chris never wanted to…" Jill continued but her voice trailed off, she couldn't bring herself to say that Chris had picked his sister over her. "Chris gave everything he could give to Claire...a chance to study, he supported her in every way and even saved her from the Rockfort Island...and in the end, he ended up giving his life too." Jill almost spat and Leon could see that there was a lot of pent-up anger in Jill. She had probably suppressed these feelings a very long time. Leon knew that in truth Jill really cared about Claire, even if she was somewhat bitter and angry about what had happened to Chris...she was still mourning, so it was natural to feel such feelings.

Leon still had trouble believing his ears, this was the first time he had seen Jill so bitter and angry. "You can't possibly blame Claire for Chris' death, Jill." The man said calmly, trying to reason with her a bit but he knew that it would be useless. The woman glanced at him angrily, but the anger came from the fact that Leon was right and Jill knew it

"If Chris had not lived with Claire, Wesker would most likely have just taken her and Chris would have had a chance to live…I know it is not fair but I'm only a woman, and I can't help these feelings." Jill admitted and eyed her laptop lazily; she didn't really feel like writing a report right now, not with all the emotions raging inside her.

"If you ask me, I think Claire is better off with Wesker, after all, she seems to be living in quite luxury." Jill murmured and that caused Leon to see red, there was a line even for his understanding

"For heaven's sake Jill, listen to yourself! Are you really saying that Claire is doing well? She has spent a year with her captor who also killed her brother. You are being selfish. You aren't the only one who has lost someone they love" Leon growled and Jill seemed saddened by his words since she knew them to be true

"I can't help it, Leon, I'm sorry." The woman murmured, so quietly that even the bug couldn't catch it fully.

"And after all, there is nothing we can do about this right now. We have no idea where Wesker is and BSAA has ordered us to retain from all attempts of approaching him or Claire if we were to see them…and we have our own mission to solve." Jill said and Leon had to bite his tongue not to snap at the woman who had lost so much in her life. "Our orders are clear; we are to help solve the possible threat with the anti umbrella extremists who are planning to attack the scientists in the laboratory which research is funded by the government. " Jill continued, finally starting to type the report on the findings

"Are we going to just leave Claire in Wesker's hands?! We have to do something." Leon replied and got off the bed, his holster still attached, and walked to Jill who glanced at him "The BSAA has declared Claire either dead or status unknown, learning that she is alive was a great finding, Leon, but we don't know the details, she could be working with Wesker all we know." Jill continued but didn't quite believe that fact "Whatever the case is, we cannot act now or the BSAA's work might be all in vain if we fail."

"You can't be serious." Leon said.

"I am very serious, Leon, there is nothing we can do but our job here and that is what we are going to do. First of all we don't know where she is being held, what her allegiances are right now, and if she is infected with something it could be a safety hazard; we simply don't have enough information to work with." Jill finished and closed the laptop, it was late already and tomorrow they would go and get more information about the extremists that were rumoured to be in the city.

Leon didn't like the idea of leaving now that they knew Claire was still alive and being held by Wesker. It was a huge load off his shoulders to know that she was alive but that wasn't enough for him. Leon got back on the bed and closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep. "I guess you are right Jill…" he said with tired voice but inside he knew that he would go against the rules to get to Claire.

The ex-cop tried to solve all the things rushing around his head but there was simply too much to think. It felt really bad to prioritise some things over Claire but it was their duty. A major part of Leon just wanted to rush to the streets and try to find more info about Wesker and Claire but the only lead they had gotten so far had been brought to them by luck. It would be like trying to find a needle in haystack, and who knew…it had been weeks since Wesker and Claire had been sighted in the restaurant, they might not even be in the city anymore.

Leon was torn up inside, it felt so wrong to do this to Claire but they couldn't do anything else. He had never told her, but she was very important part of his life. She probably saw him as something like a big brother, even though she had one, but to him she had been more…Leon loved her, and he had never brought himself to tell his feelings to the young woman. He wanted nothing more than to find and hold Claire, to rescue her from Wesker who had taken her from him.

"We will do our job as ordered and then return to BSAA…we can't do anything more at this point." Jill murmured but Leon didn't answer to her, after all, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him. Leon needed to find Claire, not matter what, even if it meant going against BSAA and his partner.

* * *

HUNK was sitting on top of the hotel's roof on the edge, listening to the BSAA pair's conversation "This is pure gold…who had known you have such a cruel heart, ms. Valentine. " HUNK chuckled and opened the channel with Wesker "Did you listen to that?" The mercenary asked curiously, wanting to hear his employer's opinion on the interesting conversation.

"Yes, I presume you managed to record it?" Wesker asked coldly and the mercenary let out a small chuckle "Of course, but I expect to get well paid for delivering this info to you. Tell me, what are you going to do with it?" The mercenary couldn't help but ask. It wasn't normal for HUNK to be interested in what his employers wanted to do with the results or how they affected the things, but Claire's situation was simply just too interesting for him.  
"I'm sure dear heart will be most eager to hear her friends' voices…no matter what it is about." Wesker replied and HUNK had no doubt that the blond man was already imagining and picturing the effect the record would have on Claire. "And the planned attack on the research facility…I guess we could use that to our advantage." Wesker's cold and yet amused voice continued "You want me to kill them during the attack and get the info they carry along with the facility's research data?" He asked, it would be an easy job.

"No, I got someone else I plan to use for this."" Wesker said with amused tone, clearly the man found this game very amusing and no doubt he had thought it few turns ahead of the other players. "Someone is quite familiar with."

"Easier would be to just kill them." HUNK murmured. The mercenary rarely voiced his opinions about anything when it came to his job, but he just found this so unlike what he had gotten used to.

"Are you questioning my orders? My intentions are to bring Claire to her full glory while they are alive, and I want them to witness it." Wesker said almost threateningly.

"No, of course not…" HUNK murmured "Is there anything you need me to do?".

After a moment of silence, Wesker finally answered "No, I shall be contacting myself. Your work is done."

Then the call got ended.

They had been aware of the intentions of many groups for a good while now but these two had not interested Wesker until now since no doubt the BSAA would be dealing soon with a hostage situation in few days if everything went according to the intel they had gotten.

The mercenary pulled up his backpack and descended the fire ladder down to the dark street.

HUNK wasn't surprised that Wesker had chosen to contact Ada Wong to do this work. From what he knew, she and Leon Kennedy shared somewhat of a strange and complicated relationship, one that Wesker could use for his advantage.

Even if his part was done in this play, he still intended to act as a sspectator in this show.

* * *

*sob* I can't keep it short and sweet! It has to be long and bitter. I really wanted to end this story here but I can't. I was going to kill Leon and Jill but then my friend asked that if I do that what is going to be left? Well, then I started a long and painful road to find a solution to this all and nothing made sense until I played the Remake and realized that nothing with Umbrella ever makes any sense. I know I made Jill kinda bitchy but I need a catalyst for the next chapter where things too a turn for worse. This was probably the most annoying chapter I've written so far since it was just so much trouble coming up with distantly reasonable solutions.

Once again I want to thank all my reviewers and readers, you guys are the best and inspire me to write even if it takes fucking forever...


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